The Taiwan registry, Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC), has offered the ability to register IDN.ASCII (aka “IDN.TW”) since 2004. When registering an IDN.TW, if a registrant ordered the name using Traditional Chinese characters for the domain string, the registry would automatically allocate the Simplified Chinese version (if it existed) of the name (and vice versa) for no additional charge. This has often been referred to as a “.TW Bundle” and results in the registrant getting 2 IDN.TW (IDNTraditional.TW and IDNSimplified.TW) domains for the price of 1.
In June 2010, the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the delegation of the Simplified and Traditional Chinese versions of the .TW ccTLD to TWNIC. Thus, it is now possible to have the entire .TW domain name in Traditional or Simplified Chinese characters. This development is expected to make direct navigation on the Internet much easier and user-friendly for Taiwanese citizens because they will no longer have to type domain addresses into their browsers using both Latin and Chinese character sets.
To ensure the fair allocation of these new varieties of .TW names, TWNIC has decided to include the Traditional and Simplified versions of the IDN ccTLD for .TW (if they exist) as part of the current “.TW Bundle”. Thus, CSC has been notified that TWNIC has automatically allocated current owners of IDN.TW names the Traditional and Simplified Chinese IDN ccTLD versions of their name(s) (if they exist) for no additional charge. Thus, a “TW Bundle” now consists of the following:
• IDNTraditional.TW
• IDNSimplified.TW
• IDNTraditional.TWTraditional
• IDNSimplified.TWSimplified
Going forward, CSC clients interested in registering any IDN version of .TW may register any one (1) of the above four (4) versions of .TW and TWNIC will automatically allocate the remaining three (3) versions as part of the “.TW Bundle”.
Taiwan has an estimated population of over 23 million people and over 16 million people within Taiwan currently use the Internet to obtain information and purchase products and services online. The availability of these new Internationalized versions of the .TW TLD presents corporate brand holders with new branding and revenue opportunities, as well as new threats to their corporate identity online.
CSC clients are strongly encouraged to contact their CSC Brand Advisor, CSC Client Service Specialist or to click the “Contact Us” button on the left side of the screen for further assistance with .TW registration and strategy.