By end of 2021 the Internet has more than 341 million domain names registered

Since the Internet was invented, the world has become more interconnected, and that was made even more thorough with the introduction of smartphones that enable connectivity with handsets.

According to VeriSign a provider of domain name registry services and Internet infrastructure, at the close of the fourth quarter of 2021, some 341.7 million domain names have been registered across all top-level domains (TLDs) – and that is an increase of 3.3 million domain name registrations, or 1.0 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2021.

“A domain name is a unique, easy-to-remember address used to access websites, such as ‘google.com’, and ‘facebook.com’. Users can connect to websites using domain names thanks to the DNS system,” according to Cloudflare.

In a press release copied to Ghana Business News, VeriSign says the .com and .net TLDs had a combined total of 173.4 million domain name registrations in the domain name base3 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of 1.4 million domain name registrations, or 0.8 per cent, compared to the third quarter of 2021. The .com and .net TLDs had a combined increase of 8.2 million domain name registrations, or 5.0 per cent, year over year.

As of December 31, 2021, the .com domain name base totaled 160.0 million domain name registrations, and the .net domain name base totaled 13.4 million domain name registrations, it added.

New .com and .net domain name registrations totaled 10.6 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 10.5 million domain name registrations at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020.

VeriSign indicates that it publishes The Domain Name Industry Brief to provide internet users throughout the world with statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry. The brief for the fourth quarter 2021, as well as previous briefs, can be obtained at verisign.com/dnib.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi