Plan for shorter .uk domain names (for now) — Nominet shelves

No second level registrations — for now.

.UK registry Nominet has delayed approving its own proposal for offer second level domain names.

The proposal would have allowed people to register domain names at the second level (e.g. name.uk) instead of the existing third level requirement (e.g. name.co.uk).

That concerned existing registrants of third level domain names, who wouldn’t necessarily be first in line to get the second level equivalent of their third level domains. With wholesale pricing of £20 per year — nearly ten times how much the registry charges for third level domains — it all seemed like a big money grab.

Although the board didn’t approve the shorter domains at its meeting yesterday, .uk domain owners aren’t out of the woods yet.

The board is still researching ways to bring the program to fruition. It wants to explore ways to give some sort of priority to existing third level registrants and consider rolling out some of the features it planned to add to second level domains to the third level. Given the amount of money the registry can make, I don’t think it will let the idea die easily.

The board plans to review its progress at its June meeting.