Mexico’s New Domain

On Feb 1st, NIC Mexico, the Mexican Domain Name System authority, announced the opening of a new ‘Country Top Level’ domain: Dot-MX.   Hitherto the country’s top level domain name extension was the more protracted Dot-COM.MX.

The domain authority was keen to promote the advent of its new country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), and position it as the premier extension for Mexico-related website addresses.  A multi-million dollar advertising campaign ensued, broadcasting messages using radio, television, billboards and, of course, on the internet.  The ads proclaimed “.MX is the new way to say Mexico”.

In addition to wooing the millions of Mexican businesses who would be lining up to secure names under the new ccTLD, the authority also advertised to the US business community, persuading potential registrants that ‘.MX is the way to talk to the Hispanic market in the USA’.

The launch of new TLDs always gives rise to some controversy, principally because domain names are most often registered to owners on a ‘first-come, first-serve’ basis, a system that can play into the hands of “Domainers”, people who register names in an attempt to sell them on at prices much higher than their initial registration value.

Although there does exist a buoyant “secondary” domain name market for good generic names and phrases, some people who have tried to extort money from large companies (or smaller companies with an established trading record) by offering to sell names directly related to the company have come unstuck when courts of law ruled that registered trademarks and company names registered before the domain name have legal rights which supersede a Domainer’s ‘first-served’ registration advantage.

In an attempt to circumvent some of the issues which have dogged the release of other TLDs, NIC Mexico undertook a study of ‘TLD launches’ in other countries and regions and devised a registration policy based on that research.   The Mexicans decided that they would introduce a “sunrise” period for the launch of the Dot-MX domain, starting on May 1.  During this period, the authority offered all existing holders of Mexican domain names a three-month window in which to pre-register the exact same name(s) as those held under Dot-COM.MX.  This was fair and sensible: fair because those people and companies holding existing Dot-COM.MX domains would not have to concern themselves about others registering names they had already secured in Mexico; and sensible because had this not been offered, the integrity of the new Dot-MX ccTLD may have become commercially untenable.

On August 1st, the sunrise period ended, giving way to a so-called ‘quiet period’; a month in which the sunrise pre-registrations were confirmed and any disputes settled.

On September 1st, a two-month ‘Land Rush’ period began.  From this date, anyone was allowed to go online and apply for registration of a Dot-MX domain that was not already pre-registered under the sunrise rules, or that was not otherwise restricted (for example, Mexican state names were reserved for exclusive use by Mexican state governments).

However, the regular US$35 registration fee policy was abandoned during the Land Rush period, in favor of a staggered price system.  Under this scheme, names registered nearer to September 1st were much higher in price than those registered nearer to October 31st.   Prices started at around US$700 at the beginning of September and steadily decreased to US$50; the new ccTLDs ‘standard’ registration and annual renewal price.

The Land Rush period ended on October 31st so, as of now, anyone can continue to apply for registration of Dot-MX domains at the standard price, although some domain registrars are offering discounts on this.

As .MX is much simpler than its predecessor .COM.MX, we can expect to see and hear ‘Dot-MX’ a lot more in the coming months and years.  Its predecessor will continue to be current and active and most would-be registrants coming to the market for a Mexico-related domain in future will likely seek to register both extensions to secure their name, product or brand online.

Mexperience.com, which is accessible at Mexperience.com.mx, can now also be accessed at Mexperience.mx.

For more information about internet services in Mexico, connect to our guide to Communications in Mexico.