01.03.2006

Private persons applied for fi-domain names at a steady pace

The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) began granting fi-domain names to private persons on 1 March at 8.00 a.m.

By 4 p.m., private persons had applied for about 2,000 domain names, of which about half were based on a person's name. Fi-domain names will be granted in the order FICORA receives the applications. During the day, about 500 clients contacted the authority, mostly by phone.

A fi-domain name can be any generic term, for example a generic term related to a hobby, your nickname or your own name. A fi-domain name cannot be based on a protected name or trademark, such as a name of a company that has been entered into the Finnish Trade Register. The domain name that the applicant is going to apply for must not include expressions that are insulting or incite criminal activity.

A private person who is applying for a fi-domain name must be over the age of 15 and have a Finnish identity number and home municipality in Finland.

Applications for a fi-domain name can either be submitted via your Internet Service Provider or FICORA's Domain Name Service at https://domain.ficora.fi/ where the domain names are also applied for and paid. In all, FICORA has granted a total of 123,000 fi-domain names.

Additional information on the advantages fi-domain names offer to private persons is available at http://www.omafi.fi/.

Further information:
Mr Juhani Juselius, Head of Domain Names, tel. +358 9 6966 743, mobile phone +358 40 730 6776 and
Ms Tuula Vainionkulma-Paananen, Service Manager, tel. +358 9 6966 491, mobile phone +358 40 303 8210