Dot Cotton

The global internet body has voted to allow the creation of new website domain suffixes, the biggest change for the online world in years.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) plans to dramatically increase the number of domain endings from the current 22. Internet address names will end with almost any word and be in any language. Icann will begin taking applications next year, with global businesses, institutions and cities expected to be among the first.

Rod Beckstrom, president and chief executive officer for Icann said: "Icann has opened the internet's addressing system to the limitless possibilities of the human imagination. No one can predict where this historic decision will take us."

The new domains could create addresses such as dot google, dot coke or even dot apa. But it will cost around £125,000 to apply for the suffixes and companies would need to show they have a legitimate claim to the name they are buying.

APA