To Release 1 and 2 Character .Tel Domain Names — Telnic Wants

Look for shorter .tel domain names soon.

.Tel registry Telnic has formally asked ICANN to allow it to offer one and two character .tel domain names. The firm would not offer two letter domains that correspond to an existing country code, nor would it release one and two digit domain names.

Telnic wants to initially ask interested parties to respond to a request for proposal in order to obtain one of the domains. While other top level domain registries have used a similar process, it’s not clear what Telnic will be looking for given that .tel domain names can’t be “developed”, which was a key criteria in other releases. Perhaps they’ll want someone who plans to make a creative use of .tel. They’ll also look for big brands that will help get the word out regarding .tel. For example, they might wish to award HP the domain name HP.tel, while they’d prefer not to give me aa.tel (my initials) since they won’t get much marketing return for it.

Following the RFP process, domains will be available at a premium price. Any domains not allocated during the premium phase will be available at regular prices.