A study by VeriSign Inc reveals that registrations for Internet addresses ending in China's ".cn" have overhauled those for the global ".net," showing the remarkable rise in Internet use in the Asiatic nation, host to one of the most dynamic economies in the world.

VeriSign Inc., which runs the ".net" databases and other core directories which allow computer users to locate Web sites, said that ".cn" overtook ".net" sometime in the first quarter of 2008. According to the study, ".cn" registrations grew 23 per cent from the previous quarter and were three times higher than those in the same period in 2007.

For the month of May, ".cn" registrations were at 11.8 million and ".net" at 11.6 million.

China has reported that the number of Internet users in the country has soared to 221 million, matching the US online population, which is the largest in the world.

Despite the surge in Chinese registrations, the ".com" suffix, also run by VeriSign, remains the overwhelming worldwide leader with 76.5 million registrations. The German ".de" comes in second with 12.1 million.

Both ".com" and ".net" are global domain names, available worldwide on a first-come, first-served basis. Though widely preferred, country-specific addresses such as ".de" and ".cn" are also common place.

Apart from China, the VeriSign study has also reported growth in other country names, including Poland's ".pl," Spain's ".es," Russia's ".ru" and France's ".fr."