The number of Chinese-based domain names with the ".cn" suffix is expected to climb enormously in the near future after the Ministry of Information Technology eases its rules at the end of next month.

The ministry made public a new regulation on Thursday in an effort to spur on China's Internet development and ensure its information security.

Liu Zhihong, director of the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC), said the relaxation of the regulation would provide much easier and quicker access for domain name applicants. After September 30, qualified applicants will have domain names approved within six hours of their online registration.

Presently,the process takes up to five days.

"It will take less time than the registration of foreign domain names," said Liu, adding that foreign domain name providers would have guaranteed registration within 24 hours of their application.

According to the new regulation, the cost of using a domain name will be decided by the Internet market, instead of information authorities.

At the moment, every ".cn"user is hit with an annual charge of 300 yuan (US$36).

"Generally, the charge will come down," Liu said.

A ministry official, who did not want to be named, said the policy change was made because of concern over China's Internet development. China first made public its regulation about domain names in 1997.

"Now the situation has changed a lot and the policy will also be adjusted," Liu said.

Domain names in China have become hot property. Statistics show that up to about 90 per cent of China's users have registered ".com" or ".net" domains.

Domain names with the ".cn" suffix have grown from just above 4,000 in 1997 to about 126,000 by the end of June. But Liu estimated there were about 700,000 domain names in China with the ".com" or ".net" suffix.

"The situation is not beneficial to China's information security future," Liu said.

Since domain names, as invisible assets, are becoming as important as trademarks and brand names, awareness about them should be raised, the official said.

Liu said the new regulation would ensure a complete mechanism for domain name management and supervision.

The ministry is China's highest Internet authority.

The CNNIC, a neutral, non-profit-making organization, which is authorized and led by the ministry, is responsible for the daily management of domain names.