The .AT Registry - administrator of Austria's .AT country code top level domain - has decided to release 4,965 previously unavailable one and two character domain names that will be sold in a trio of Sedo auctions this month. The first of those will get underway Monday, November 7 and run for one week, with next batch starting November 14 and the final one November 21 (click on the dates to see a list of domains that will be sold in that week's auction). 

These ultra-short domains will consist of one or two letters, one or two numbers, or one or two mixed characters (one letter and one number). For example, C.at, Wh.at, 1.at or K2.at. All domains purchased in this auction will be entered into the .at zone on December 6. From that day on these domain names will be fully operational. There will be no premium prices charged when renewing domains won in the auctions - all will renew at the standard rate for any .at domain.  

While .AT, which was established in 1996, is Austria's official ccTLD, anyone can own one regardless of where they live (at one time I owned Jackson.at). A Sedo statement about the upcoming auctions noted that they expect significant interest in these domains from the China market because the AT letter combination has special meaning there. The statement said, "The .AT combination is the initial letter for certain Chinese words and phrases in pinyin like “loving him/her”, “lament”, “loving to listen” (e.g. music), etc.  Furthermore, .AT domains are easier for the Mandarin speaking population to remember making this TLD attractive to commercial end user groups in China as well as Chinese domain investors."

For more information and a detailed auction schedule you can visit Sedo.com/at.