In a move aimed at encouraging small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to establish an online presence, an SME Domain Name Reservation initiative was launched last December to make it easier for new start-ups to reserve a ".com.sg" or ".sg" domain name. SMEs will also be able to save up to S$30 for the first-year registration of their first domain name.

The SME Domain Name Reservation initiative was introduced by Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), in collaboration with SGNIC, which provides Internet registry services in Singapore, and the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).

According to the IDA’s 2006 Business Infocomm Usage survey, many smaller companies are not leveraging enough on infocomm for business advantage. Infocomm usage and adoption fell as the number of employees decreased: 77 per cent of companies with fewer than 10 employees did not have a Web presence, while 56 per cent of these companies did not use broadband. IDA’s goal is to have 80 per cent of SMEs adopt broadband usage and establish an online presence by 2010.

The new initiative helps SMEs to have an online presence.

The new SME Domain Name Reservation initiative facilitates the first step towards establishing an online presence by enabling start-ups to reserve their preferred domain name when they register their business entity electronically with ACRA's BizFile ( www.bizfile.gov.sg ).

Upon successfully registering and paying for the business/company registration at the BizFile system, they will be shown the option for reserving a domain name. To do this, businesses will need to first check if the domain name that they want (ending with ".com.sg" or ".sg") is still available for use. If it is, they can simply provide a name, contact number and email address to confirm the reservation request. The name will be reserved for three months.

Once a domain name has been successfully reserved using the BizFile system, it will have to be “activated” with any of the seven participating registrars: Adicio ( www.adicio.net ), Cybersite ( www.cybersite.com.sg ), IP Mirror ( www.ipmirror.com ), Pacific Internet ( www.pacific.net.sg ), Vooju ( www.vooju.com ), Web Commerce Communications ( cms.webnic.cc/SDR/enew_jan08_SGNIC.htm ) and Webvisions ( www.webvisions.com/smednr/ ).

The S$30 discount also applies to the first-year registration for all business or companies without an existing “.sg” domain name. The promotion is valid till December 2010.