.tk

Status:	Active
country:	Tokelau
Manager:	Dot TK
Registry Provider:	Freedom Registry
Registrations:	16.7 million
Type:	Open ccTLD
Key People
Joost Zuurbier, CEO

.tk is the ccTLD for the country of Tokelau, in the South Pacific. Joost Zuurbier is CEO of Dot TK, the registry of .tk internet domain names. The registry is the world's largest ccTLD registry and second largest TLD after .com, with more than 16.7 million domain names registered. Joost visited the country of Tokelau in 2003, and every few years he meets the Ministers of the country and the managing director of Teletok, the local ICT and registry authority. Dot TK has created double digit increases in Tokelau's GDP. Dot TK is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands but has offices in London (UK) and Palo Alto (US).

The .tk registry has been one of the pioneers in domain name auctions. In September 2009, they announced the first live domain name auction with live broadcast on the nic.tk site. During the auction a total of 212 lots were auctioned, mainly generic domain names, like futbol.tk and poker.tk.

History

In 2001, Mr. Zuurbier proposed the .tk project to the island's elders. Tokelau was an ideal home for the project given that its national domain had never been delegated and that they had no other ICT infrastructure. Thus, the project would immediately begin to benefit the local people, while also creating an innovative open ccTLD on the global Internet. It took 5 years to convince ICANN of the project's validity. The Internet body insisted on meeting the local elders, likely to ensure that the business deal was legitimate and that they were not being misled about their own ccTLD rights. For a time, ICANN also insisted that the servers and other infrastructure be hosted on the island. They later waived this requirement when they learned how difficult that would be. The money brought in through the venture has been reinvested in Tokelau's ICT development, providing for high-speed satellite connections and Internet cafes.