Things are going from bad to worse for .eu

The number of UK-based .eu registrations has been dropping like a stone since the beginning of this month as domains registered in the initial rush come up for renewal (Speculators spoil .eu anniversary, 9 April).

The number of UK-based .eu domains registered on 5 April 2007 stood at 441,586 but by 11 April the number had fallen to 420,077. That’s nearly five percent of UK .eu domains abandoned in less than seven days.

There is very little real use of .eu by the core business community in Europe. In the UK, 80 percent of companies and businesses that applied for their trade-names during the second sunrise period failed to get them. Many of these domains ended up in the hands of speculators.

There are over 1.5 million .eu domains up for renewal this month. It will be interesting to see how many will be dropped before May Day.

John McCormac