Bern announces new ‘.swiss’ domain name

The new name was announced as part of the Ordinance on Internet Domains, the government said.

It said “.swiss” domain names “must serve and promote the interests of the Swiss community”.

Entities that are based in Switzerland or who have a “special connection with the country” may request a domain name with the new suffix through the federal communications office (Ofcom), which will serve as a registry.

The new domain extension will become operational “during the course of next year”, the government said.

Among other changes, it will no longer be necessary to register a website with a “.ch” domain name through the Switch Foundation, as of April 2015.

The foundation has been tasked to perform this task until March 31st next year.

However, in line with “global developments”, the government said this job will be put out to tender to registrars, generally Internet providers such as Swisscom.

The “.ch” domain names will continue to be assigned to interested parties on a first come, first served basis.

In a related decision, the government announced that it is requiring Swisscom to double the minimum access speed for broadband internet connections next year.

And it introduced measures to designed to improve “price transparency” for telecom services.

Supplements charged to services advertised as free, such as 0800 numbers, will be banned, making such numbers genuinely free of charge, whether used from a mobile or landline phone.