NCBA is proposing the new domain in partnership with Poptel, Great Britain's leading cooperative internet services and solutions provider, which will serve as the registry operator for .co-op. The 750,000 cooperatives worldwide and their 725 million members will be able to differentiate themselves in global e-commerce.
Many consumers are wary of doing business with dot coms.
We think dot co-op will become the trusted alternative to dot com. To provide integrity to the new TLD, NCBA and Poptel propose that the .co- op be restricted to only those businesses that operate according to internationally recognized cooperative principles, such as member ownership and control. NCBA, established in 1916, is a national trade association that represents 48,000 co-ops in the U.S. and provides cooperative development services in emerging economies under contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development.