Interview with NIC Mexico (.mx/.com.mx) General Director Oscar A Robles-Garay

Over the past year I’ve done increasingly large amounts of business with NIC Mexico. Perhaps its my fondness to the country itself which motivates me. I’d like to think my reasons are more shrewd than that.

The country has over 110 million people in it, predominately under the age of 35. As we all know, it shares a large boarder with the United States.

Speaking of the United States, did you know that it is one of the only countries in the world without an official national language? English is only the de facto language used by government. By 2030 Spanish will be the most dominant language in the country, at which point that southern boarder of ours will start to blur. <–Only that last part is my opinion, the rest is fact.

In my continuing quest to interview executives at all of the world’s ccTLDs I’ve reached out to NIC Mexico’s leader Oscar A Robles-Garay.

I hope you get something out of this. Here we go.

RL - Please tell my readers and I a little bit about the history of nic.mx. When did it start? How did it start?

Oscar A Robles-Garay - NIC Mexico was created on February 1st of 1989, when the Technological Institute of Advanced Studies of Monterrey (ITESM), in Monterrey, Mexico, established direct connection to the network. On October of 1995, ITESM made the official announcement of Network Information Center for México launch. This fact formalized the work that it was being developed since 1989.
Since February 1st of 1989 (date in which the .MX was created), the registration of .MX domain names under the first level were restricted, only to be used by universities and other education institutions. Later on 1996 the registration directly under the .MX TLD was closed. Remaining only available for .MX domain names the following extensions: .COM.MX, GOB.MX, EDU.MX, ORG.MX and .NET.MX.
NIC Mexico along its 20 years of history has been making different efforts to give more users the opportunity to promote their ideas, business and culture, through .MX domain names; in order to fulfill the mission to place the name of Mexico on the Internet. Right now, we are reopening .MX TLD!

RL - What is your official title in the organization?

Oscar A Robles-Garay - General Director of Network Information Center México, S. C. (NIC México)

RL - What restrictions if any do you have on foreigners and foreign companies that want to register names under your extension?

Oscar A Robles-Garay - There are not restrictions for domains .com.mx and .mx (in the later case it will be fully opened after September 1st.)

RL - How many total .com.mx and .mx names do you have registered currently?

Oscar A Robles-Garay - .com.mx 269,647  - .mx 26,089

RL - Recently you launched .mx. In fact, it is still in its sunrise period. How is that going for you so far?

Oscar A Robles-Garay - Right now it’s running the last month of the Sunrise Period. Fortunately, until this moment I can say it has been a great response for domain name registrations directly under .MX. Indeed, we are expecting to have a greater effect in this month.

RL - When we were in Sydney you hinted that you may extend the sunrise period. Have you made a decision on this point yet? If so, can you share why you made that decision?

Oscar A Robles-Garay - We don’t have the final decision yet. But we think it won’t be necessary to modify the original plan for the .MX Reopening Process.

RL - In the past you have offered specials. For instance in June you are offering $11 off of new registrations of .mx names. Can we get any hints to specials that may be offered in the near future?

Oscar A Robles-Garay - During July, NIC México Registrar rewards the loyalty of .MX domain name users offering them $7 USD off on new domain name registrations directly under .MX. Beyond this, there aren’t price promotions considered for 2009. We are working closely with our Accredited Registrars, and they are the ones who at the end of the day will be making the price promotions. So we look forward to let you know when one of our more that 170 Registrars starts one offer.

RL - Do you have any plans to offer nic.mx in English? Many think it would get you additional registrations.

Oscar A Robles-Garay - In fact, it’s coming soon the English version of www.registry.mx , and later on www.nic.mx.

RL - Since most of my audience trades names on the aftermarket, can you share your thoughts on more controversial subjects like domain tasting?

Oscar A Robles-Garay - Our systems allow our Registrar’s customers to do domain tasting, it is up to each registrar to implement this practice or not. In any case we aim to prevent abuse in the domain tasting use, so we ask our registrars to pay a minimum amount of requested registrations.

RL - What does nic.mx do with expired domains? Do you just let them delete? Any plans to publish a list?

Oscar A Robles-Garay - Currently expired domains are eliminated. We have the intention to publish them pretty soon on www.registry.mx, but there is no due date to start it.

RL - Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. If you have any closing thoughts, say them here.

Oscar A Robles-Garay - Just to emphasize that domain name registrations directly under .MX will be available for general public as of September 1st, 2009.