For any name under the sun - .asia

.asia is a sponsored top-level domain sponsored by the DotAsia Organization, with the back-end registry operated by Afilias. It was approved by ICANN on 19 October 2006 as a sponsored TLD. It serves as a regional domain for companies, organizations, and individuals based in the region of Asia, Australia, and the Pacific.

The .asia domain opened to registrations on a first-come, first-served basis on 26 March 2008.

The sunrise period for .asia began on 9 October 2007, and ended on 31 January 2008. From 20 February 2008 to 12 March 2008, .asia was in the land rush state. Anyone meeting the .asia registration requirements could apply for any available .asia domain name. Each domain name for which there was more than one request will be auctioned among the applicants after the initial registration period closes. The auction process is considered innovative for a TLD launch; however, it may be biased against individuals and non-profit driven entities, as they typically lack the scale of funds available to commercial enterprises.

During the land rush state 473,633 domain registration applications were received, bringing the total number of applications to 505,838.(Note that these are applications for registration rather than actual registrations, so many may be contested by auction or be disqualified.) As of November 2010, the number of registered .asia domains was 182,692.As of December 2011 the number increased to 195,330 registered domains.

Eligibility: 

Although intended to confine eligibility to genuine denizens of the extended Asia-Pacific region, in practice, many entities outside the area have been able to register .asia domains without qualm by selecting an agent (typically provided by a registrar). It is yet to be seen if this will disqualify auction contenders or lead to legal challenges, as it may contravene the .asia charter.