.aquitaine
a new top-level domain
| Extension | .aquitaine |
| Applicant | Regional Council of Aquitaine |
| Website | http://numerique.aquitaine.fr/ |
Applicant
The Aquitaine Regional Council is responsible for the Aquitaine region. The French government began a decentralization program in 1982. As a result of this program, Regional councils will have greater independence and authority to manage the regions they are responsible for.
Aquitaine is one of 27 regions located in south-western France. It is a region that begins on the Atlantic coast and ends at the Pyrenees mountain range bordering Spain. This region includes 2,295 separate towns and villages. There are five departments: “Dordogne”, “Lot et Garonne”, “Pyrénées-Atlantiques”, “Landes” and “Gironde”. Aquatine's capital is Bordeaux, which is well known as the one of the world's most famous wine producing cities. Aquitaine has a population of 3,150,890 inhabitants representing six percent of the global French population. In 2010, there were 238,248 enterprises based in the Aquitaine region. That number also includes 32 390 new companies.
In February 2011, The Aquitaine regional council asked ProDomaines.com, the domain names department of Systonic.fr, to produce a feasibility study for the domain name extension .AQUITAINE.
Mission
The aim of the domain name extension .AQUITAINE is to promote the Aquitaine territory. Aquitaine is a cutting edge, innovative and dynamic region. .AQUITAINE will give organizations, businesses and people the opportunity to identify themselves with the Aquitaine.
.AQUITAINE bolsters the local economy and displays the region on the Internet in a clear and comprehensive fashion.
Advantages
Aquitaine entities will be more easily identifiable on the Internet. The name “Aquitaine” is among the top four French Regions registered in French trademarks. It is also in the top four French Regions registered in the domains names .FR and .ORG.
Premium domains must be approved by the .aquitaine registry before they can be reserved such as pin.aquitaine, surf.aquitaine or wine.aquitaine.

