The worldwide domain registration industry is expected to slow during the next three years, while average prices for domain names will drop, The Australian reported Monday.

The expected slowdown of selling .coms and .nets, however, is not expected to stop the release of new domain names this year.

Worldwide, there are about 185 million registered domain names, and by 2011, that number is expected to hit nearly 300 million, according to Melbourne's MAP Research, The Australian reported.

In 2008, domain name sales generated US$3.6 billion around the world, and sales are expected to grow to $5.3 billion by 2011, according to MAP. This year, sales are expected to rise 15.4 percent, to $4.2 billion, according to The Australian.

"We won't be seeing that really large growth in domains coming from the US and Europe. The majority will come from BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China). While the overall size of the global domain industry is expected to increase over the next three years, growth will be at a slower rate than previous years and a drop in average revenue per domain is forecast," Marco Marcou, MAP director told The Australian.

Registrars are also debating whether to allow industries, business or countries to move away from domains such as .com or .biz, and instead use names such as .bank, .microsoft or .singapore, The Australian article stated.