Insight into the .PH ccTLD
HEXONET is pleased to announce that we just added the country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) .PH (Philippines) to our portfolio of domain extensions offered to resellers.
To introduce and provide knowledge to our resellers about the .PH ccTLD, we have garnered special insights from Francis Simisim. Francis is the founder of TechFilipino.com, a blog that covers technology, gadgets and web related news. He is also a domain name investor. HEXONET wants to sincerely thank Francis for his time and insight into the .PH ccTLD.
The .PH domain is still in the early stages of adoption so there tremendous opportunities and latent potential for this ccTLD. Read below and get excited about registering your .PH domain today!
QUESTION & ANSWERS:
HEXONET: What are the most predominant extensions used in the Philippines? We hear that it is .COM and .COM.PH. Also do you believe there will be more interest in .COM.PH vs. PH?
Francis: The most common is .COM.PH which is what most older Philippines websites use. However, with more people accessing the web and with ease of use, .PH is now rising pretty fast. As a matter of fact, Joel Dissini, the owner of dotPH has released this statement recently ... http://techfilipino.com/official-statement-from-dotph-on-the-future-of-com-ph-vs-ph-domain-names/
HEXONET: How active is the domainer market in the Philippines?
Francis: There's really only a few domineers in the Philippines (especially the .PH and .COM.PH). There is myself, three individuals from the U.S., a local Filipino gentleman, a Korean domainer and some Japanese domainers. Rick Latona invested before and registered 1200 domains, however he dropped all of his .PH domains.
HEXONET: Are there any trends regarding the .PH ccTLD that are worth noting?
Francis: More and more websites are appearing and are under development. You have huge companies investing in domains like pep.ph (an entertainment news portal), spot.ph (an online urban lifestyle guide to the best of Manila) and stir.ph (a showbiz website) which is now making .PH more favoured. Also, prices for these TLDs haven't moved up or down the past few years which is still unfavourable to locals (~$8 for .COM vs. $35 .PH). There's also a huge number of cyber-squatters who are registering a lot of brand and big site names.
HEXONET: Any challenges / obstacles for .PH moving forward?
Francis: The major obstacle is price (as mentioned above). More people are inclined to invest in domains like domainph.com than getting the exact name with .PH. Also with fewer people developing value-added sites, it is not gaining popularity with the locals.
HEXONET: As you have in-depth knowledge of the high-tech / Internet market in the Philippines, are there any unique trends that make the Philippines stand out?
Francis: With telecom companies offering cheaper unlimited Internet, more and more people are now connected on the Internet wirelessly.
Overview:
Registry: dotPH
Registration Period: 2 years / 5 years / 10 years
Available Zones: PH., COM.PH, NET.PH, ORG.PH
Restrictions: No restrictions. Anyone can register.