Looking to Invest in .CA? Check These .CA Facts

DomainReport.ca

You still need to have a Canadian presence to own a .ca domain name, but if you are invested in this space or looking to invest in .ca domains, CIRA has just released some interesting statistics on this cctld.

There is now a section on the CIRA.ca website called The .CA Factbook.

I spent a little time last night looking over the Factbook and here are some of the interesting facts I learned:

- By the halfway mark of 2011, there were 1,714,895 .CA domains registered.

- By the midway point of 2011, .CA accounted for almost 29 per cent of all domain names registered in Canada, a rise of fully six percentage points over the past five years.

- The top four provinces for .ca domain registrations (in order) are Ontario, BC, Quebec, and Alberta.  The surprising thing was how much Ontario is ahead of the other provinces for total registrations.

- Canadians value .CA, with 88 per cent of Internet users seeing it as an important resource for Canadians.

There are a lot more statistics at the .CA Factbook, including bar charts and graphs to illustrate trends and comparisons to .com, .net, .org and other country code domains.  It is worth checking out the charts even if you don't own any .ca domains just to see the information on the other extensions.

Overall, I think the information presents a positive view of the extension for coming years (which isn't surprising I guess since it's on the CIRA site).

Below is the news release from CIRA announcing the .CA Factbook:

CIRA releases .CA Factbook, an information resource about the Internet

Ottawa, February 21, 2012 – Canada's .CA is the fourth fastest growing top-level domain in the world. Eighty-one per cent of Canadian Internet users agreed that whenever possible, they prefer to support Canadian businesses. These facts, and more, are included in a new resource from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) released today.

The 2012 .CA Factbook is a collection of facts and research about the global domain name industry and .CA’s place in that industry. It also provides a glimpse into the state of the Internet in Canada.

“With the release of the .CA Factbook, CIRA is providing Canadians with information that they have not had access to before,” said CIRA’s President and CEO Byron Holland. “Our Factbook will become an essential information source for Canadian businesses interested in expanding their knowledge about the online world.”

The .CA Factbook is presented as an online, social document with tweetable factoids, and numerous graphics.

Some other facts of note include:

Canada’s .CA has the world's14th-largest domain registry, up two spots over the past year.

British Columbia boasted the highest rates of Internet access, followed by Alberta and Ontario.

The next billion Internet users will access the Internet via mobile, bypassing fixed line broadband altogether.

Canadians pay far more than most for high-speed Internet access.

The .CA Factbook is divided into three main sections, the Global Domain Name Marketplace, .CA's Place in the Domestic Domain Name Market and the Canadian Internet Economy.

About CIRA:

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority is the member-driven organization that manages Canada’s .CA domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada’s Internet community, and represents the .CA registry internationally.

For more information, please contact:
Tanya O’Callaghan
Communications Manager, Canadian Internet Registration Authority
(613) 237-5335 ext. 262
tanya.ocallaghan@cira.ca

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