Following is information about domain names, the New Zealand domain name space, as well as the internet in New Zealand including usage, users, and other relevant information.
gTLDs and ccTLDs
As of October 2009 there were 21 generic top-level domains (gTLDs) e.g. .com, .net, .biz, .org and there are 250 country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) e.g. .nz, .au, .ca, .uk.
The full official lists can be viewed at the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) website.
.nz ccTLD
.nz is the Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for New Zealand. It is administered by InternetNZ through its subsidiary NZ Registry Services, with oversight and dispute resolution handled by the Domain Name Commission Ltd (DNC). Registrations are processed via authorised registrars.
Second-level domains
As with most other English-speaking countries, apart from the USA and Canada, there are a number of second-level domains that distinguish whether the user is a company, a non-commercial organisation, government body or other classification.
Unlike many other English-speaking countries, New Zealand uses 'govt' instead of 'gov' for government bodies and so we have 'govt.nz'.
There are also sub-level domains unique to New Zealand, such as 'iwi.nz' for traditional Maori tribal groups (as well as 'maori.nz') and 'geek.nz' for 'geeks'.
The following second level domains are in use with their official descriptions.
Unmoderated (no restrictions on registration)
- .ac.nz — Tertiary educational institutions and related organisations
- .co.nz — Organisations pursuing commercial aims and purposes
- .geek.nz — For people who are concentrative, technically skilled and imaginative who are generally adept with computers
- .gen.nz — Individuals and other organisations not covered elsewhere
- .maori.nz — Māori people, groups, and organisations
- .net.nz — Organisations and service providers directly related to the NZ Internet
- .org.nz — Not-for-profit organisations
- .school.nz — Primary, secondary, pre-schools and related organisations
Moderated (eligibility is checked before registration is established)
- .cri.nz — Crown Research Institutes.
- .govt.nz — National, regional and local government organisations operating with statutory powers. Registration is only available through the government registrar, DNS.govt.nz, and there is a government portal at www.govt.nz
- .iwi.nz — A traditional Māori tribe, hapu, or Taurahere group. Available from register.iwi.nz.
- .parliament.nz — Reserved for parliamentary agencies, Offices of Parliament, and parliamentary political parties and their elected members.
- .mil.nz — the military organisation of the NZ Government - the New Zealand Defence Force.
As at the 31st March 2011 there were 375,079 .co.nz domains names registered, and a total of 433,183 domain names in the .nz domain space registered.
New Zealand Internet Usage
New Zealand has one of the highest rates in the OECD of internet use.
The Internet World Stats statistics show as of June 2010 there were 3,600,000 Internet users in New Zealand (representing 85.4% of the population). This is a user growth rate of 333.7% between 2000 and 2010.
Internet & Broadband Subscribers
The following information/statistics are from the Internet Service Provider Survey: June 2009 (at 30 June 2009) prepared by Statistics New Zealand
The Internet service provider (ISP) Survey provides information on the total number and nature of subscribers who use New Zealand-based ISPs to connect either permanently or regularly to the Internet. This information allows a measurement of the global connectivity of New Zealanders, which is regarded as an important determinant in accelerating economic growth and social wellbeing.
· The total number of broadband subscribers exceeded 1 million.
· Broadband users made up nearly three-quarters of all Internet subscribers.
· There were 126,000 subscribers with a data cap of at least 20GB, three times as many as 15 months ago.
· The number of subscribers with an internet connection using mobile data cards, cable, or satellite technology grew by 53 percent to 220,000.
Broadband Subscribers and Connection Type
The number of broadband (non-analog) subscribers continued to grow, and exceeded 1.1 million. The growth rate had picked up since March 2008. The number of broadband subscribers made up nearly three-quarters of all subscribers (72 percent).
The digital subscriber line (DSL) was the most common broadband connection type, which is consistent with the past trend and accounted for 77 percent of all broadband subscribers. However, the biggest proportional growth in subscribers was the connection by mobile data cards (cellular), cable or satellite, which increased by 53 percent to 220,000 subscribers. The June 2009 ISP Survey was the first time respondents were asked about fibre optic connections, and it was the least common connection type.
Data Cap
The number of subscribers with a data cap continued to increase. A bigger data cap means subscribers can upload and download large amounts of data for a fixed price. There were three times as many subscribers with a data cap exceeding 20GB than 15 months ago.
The number of broadband subscribers with a data cap between 5GB and 20GB had grown over the last two years. More than one-third of all broadband subscribers had a data cap between 5GB and 20GB.
Forty-nine percent of all broadband users still had a cap of less than 5GB, compared with around 60 percent in previous years.
Six percent had no data cap, compared with 8 percent in March 2008.
Internet Subscriber Speed
Download speeds of faster than 512kbps attracted over 980,000 subscribers. The majority of subscribers were able to download at speeds of between 1.5Mbps and 24Mbps, which accounted for four out of five broadband users.
The number of subscribers with an upload speed of at least 512kbps more than doubled to 430,000.
