AFNIC, the non-profit organization responsible for managing France's ccTLD .FR and domains of the French overseas territories, among a number of generic top-level domains, has announced that it renewed its contract with the Paris City Council. Following a call for tenders from the City Council, AFNIC has been reappointed as the backend provider for the .PARIS domain.
The .PARIS domain was originally launched in 2014 as part of the initial rollout of ICANN’s new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), particularly the “geographic” ones. AFNIC has been responsible for managing the domain ever since. According to Online Domain, under the new contract, AFNIC’s remit will expand significantly: the organization will now also be responsible for promoting the .PARIS namespace and developing targeted initiatives to boost adoption both among businesses and private individuals.
According to nTLDSTATS, the .PARIS domain hosts around 19,000 registered names. However, this figure suggests considerable room for growth: for example, .LONDON boasts approximately 36,000 registrations, while .BERLIN leads with roughly 44,000.
