China might be inching closer to granting licenses for fresh TLDs

Job postings suggest licensing process might be progressing.

Top level domain name firms have been eagerly waiting for the Chinese government to issue licenses that will allow Chinese citizens to be able to host sites on their domains in China. The government might be taking a step forward, based on recent job postings.

As background, China’s MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) requires that every domain registry get a license in order for their domains — registered and intended for use in China — to be hosted in China. This license allows end-users in China to register their website with the domain extension with their government and ultimately to use hosting services within China.

While people can host their domains outside of China, this poses some difficulty for bandwidth and relevance to the Chinese market.

The approvals process for getting these licenses has dragged on, putting many domain registries in a pickle.

Now, Chinese consultancy Allegravita spotted that the director in charge of these approval certificates posted two job ads on a popular Chinese job site. The listings suggest that the positions are to work on this approval process.

This might be a sign that the licensing process is moving forward. A lot of people have their fingers crossed.