Not too long ago, Romania announced the end of free annual domains for its national ccTLD, .ro.
In December of last year, the government institute of Romania determined that an one-time fee to register .ro domains wasn’t enough; the decision to implement an annual renewal fee on top of the registration costs, would put Romania on a par with other European countries.
It seems that Argentina shared a similar process, if not better: All domain registrations of .ar donains have been free, leading to an apparent no cost operation of .ar web sites.
Argentinians will now have to pay for .ar domains.
This will change shortly, according to the national director of the Internet domain registries of Argentina, who noted:
“What we are trying to do is adapt to current global practices, and on the other hand, establish procedures that if a business brand domain is being used, it can be recovered in the short term.”
The cost won’t be prohibitive, despite the bad shape of the Argentinian economy: at 200 pesos, or about $25 USD per domain, per year, most current owners of .ar domains are expected to renew them.
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