According to the Buenosairesherald.com, .Ar domain names, which is the Country Code (ccTLD) for Argentina will go from being free to costing  “less than” 200 Argentina Pesos ($25.42 based on today’s official exchange rate) a year starting on March 5th.

The change from free to less than 200 pesos applies to new registrations and any renewals of .Ar domain names starting on March 5th.

The national director of the internet domain registries Gabriel Brenta is quoted by the Herald as saying

“What we are trying to do is adapt to current global practices, and on the other hand, establish procedures that if a business brand domain is being used, it can be recovered in the short term,”

Yet the fee would not just apply to new domains but also to the three million users who already own .AR sites and who will now have to renew their registrations annually.

“The change however should not come as a shock because “very few countries” throughout the world offer free hosting — and none in the region.”

“Users have been asking to pay for domains for a long time,

“The community of designers and internet entrepreneurs had been requesting this modification.”

Hum

A community of users that has been getting something for free are now asking to pay instead?

Maybe things are different in Argentina, but not from what I saw when I visited the country for ICANN Meeting last November.

In any case you will have to pay up starting in just a few days.

Nice notice guys.