The top-level domain (TLD) known as ‘PCCW’ is actually associated with PCCW Limited, a Hong Kong-based telecommunications company that offers a wide range of services, including local telephony, local data and broadband, international telecommunications, mobile, and other telecommunications businesses such as Customer premises equipment sale, outsourcing, consulting, and contact centers.
PCCW Ltd. has been listed as an active entity in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2000, and its stocks are also traded on the OTC market in the US. This multinational company is itself a TLD registrant and owns its ‘.pccw’ TLD, according to the database of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization in charge of coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet, ensuring the network’s stable and secure operation.
Top-Level Domains (TLD), like .pccw, are the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For .pccw, it is a Brand TLD (Top Level Domain) as it represents the company PCCW.
ICANN allocated this domain to PCCW under its New Generic Top-Level domain (gTLD) Program. This program was developed to increase competition and choice by introducing new gTLDs into the Internet’s addressing system. Any established public or private organization anywhere in the world can apply for a new gTLD.
Under this program, organizations, as mentioned in ICANN’s applicant guidebook “..have been able to apply for the registration of new gTLDs; domain name strings in scripts other than Latin; and for both generic and brand (like PCCW) terms”.
One more landmark decision in the new gTLD program was that for the first time companies could apply for their brands to become a TLD. This has been termed as “.brand” TLD and .pccw is one of those “.brand” TLDs. The applicant guidebook also talks about the .brand TLD, “..to qualify for a .brand TLD, applicants needed to have a continuous trademark registration and the applied for TLD must be identical to the textual elements of that trademark.”
To conclude, if you come across .pccw as a TLD, you should know it symbolizes both a new era of the internet where brands and organizations have their TLD and the successful technology multinational PCCW from Hongkong.
Sources:
1. ICANN.org, Overview of the New gTLD Program – https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/about/program
2. ICANN.org, Application Guidebook – https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb
3. ICANN’s List of TLDs – https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt
4. PCCW Limited: Who We Are – https://www.pccw.com/about-us/who-we-are.jsp
