Direct 2nd level registrations under .mt
NIC-malta, the registry managing the .mt domain name space, has announced that they plan to allow domain name registrations directly under the 2nd level for .mt in the near future (exact timing is not known yet). Currently only registrations on the 3rd level, under for example .com.mt and org.mt, are possible.
The launch procedure would be somewhat similar to that of 2nd level .uk registrations two years ago. Just like with .uk, the .mt domain name corresponding to an active .com.mt or .org.mt domain name will be reserved for the owner of the 3d level domain name. The reservation remains for a 3 year period and it would actually be free of charge to already activate such a reserved .mt domain name during that period.The rules for registration under .mt directly would also be more relaxed compared to those for .com.mt. Currently most people involved seem to assume you need to hold a Maltese trade mark in order to register a .com.mt domain name, that is however not correct. But for .com.mt you do need to proof a real connection to the name you want to register (like a trademark elsewhere or it being your company name). For registrations directly under .mt, even this would no longer be required. Registrations are however still restricted to legal entities (so no individuals) and the owner of the domain name should also be the user of the domain name (so no proxy or privacy services allowed).
You can already pre-register your name under .mt, but a pre-registration doesn’t guarantee you will indeed be rewarded your domain name. Better might be to now already register your name under .com.mt, to make sure the corresponding .mt domain name will be reserved for you once direct registrations are launched.
While moving to 2nd level registrations is a logical choice for any country code extension still working with 3d level domain names, the example of .uk opening up the second level two years ago does show that old habits die hard. The preferred domain name extension in England still is .co.uk instead of .uk. Even when looking at the number of newly register domain names, .co.uk still beats .uk with up to 6 times the amount of new registrations.