According to the .au Domain Administrator, the number of registered .au domains already passed the 3.3 million milestones during the first quarter of this year. This happened as the namespace turned 35.

auDA's Q1 report revealed that there were a total of 154,222 domains created during Q1. This was a figure that was up 23% year-on-year.

Furthermore, the number of .com.au domains increased by 4.9% year-on-year during the quarter which resulted in reaching over 2.9 million. These .com.au domains accounted for 99% of the new domains that were created during the quarter. The domain name .com is considered to be a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet.

On the other hand, the number of .org.au domains and .id.au domains also increased over the same

period. The .org.au domains increased by 1.9%, while the .id.au domains increased by 4.8%. The domain name .org is considered as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) while the domain name .id.au is only for registrants who are either an Australian citizen or resident.

While the other domain names increased during the first quarter, the total .net.au domains fell by 4.4% while the .asn.au domains shrank by 4.1%. The domain name .net is also a generic top-level domain (gTLD) while the domain name .asn is a 2LD (second-level domain) used for non-commercial organisations.

auDA and registry operator Afilias Australia achieved a 100% overall DNS availability during the quarter. 99.99% of DNS requests were processed within 250ms.

Enquiries to auDA's compliance team also surged to more than 140% in the first quarter. This was said to be driven by registrants who wish to understand how the new .au licensing framework was designed. The licensing framework, which was launched on 12 April, is set to apply to their specific domains.

auDA also recorded requests from law enforcement agencies seeking their assistance to tackle fraudulent websites and online crime. In parallel to this, around 128 requests falling into this category were received during the quarter.

auDA also fielded 563 complaints and managed 13 disputes. From there, the administrator conducted 787 proactive audits of u registrations during the first quarter as part of preparation work for the introduction of the new rules.

“Preparations to introduce the new rules were a demonstration of our 'One auDA' approach, with work spanning across the organisation in the months leading up to April,” auDA CEO Rosemary Sinclair wrote in her foreword to the report. “This important activity included delivering dedicated registrar training; updating auDA’s systems and processes; responding to enquiries from registrants; [and] conducting proactive audits to support compliance.”