OUR tiny neighbouring nation of Tuvalu is ticking along thanks to millions in revenue from two tiny letters: .tv.

Tuvalu’s unique country code domain name, “.tv”, attracts interest from many individuals, entities and television companies around the world.

According to Domain Typer, some have been willing to pay big bucks for internet addresses such as pedestrian.tv or Hollywood.tv. The scheme got off to a rough start, but it’s now the South Pacific nation’s largest source of income.

In 1998 an American start-up known as DotTV paid Tuvalu $US50 million ($67 million) over 12 years for the right to sell .tv to other companies.

With some of the money earned in the deal, Tuvalu was finally able to afford the $100,000 it cost to join the United Nations.

The payment also increased the country’s gross domestic product by 50 per cent and allowed the government to put electricity on the outer islands and create scholarships for its citizens.

The American company’s founders told The Independent the .tv domain could be bigger than .com, since television viewing would soon migrate to the web.

At the time, DotTV CEO Lou Kerner said, “TV is the most recognisable two-letter symbol in the world.”

Nice to see my 1st start up making news15 years later! As Online Video Surges .TV Domain Rides the Wave by @noamcohen http://t.co/oY5wHPadxv — Lou Kerner (@loukerner) August 27, 2014

In December 2001 another company took over the lease agreeing to pay the Tuvalu government US$2.2 million ($3 million) a year plus five per cent of revenue exceeding US$20 million ($29 million) per year for the right to market .tv until December 2016.

Television networks such as Russia.tv, football clubs such as Liverpoolfc.tv, video streaming sites such as ustream.tv, and celebrity websites such as emmys.tv have paid big money for a web address with the desirable suffix.

In 2002, Verisign, a large manager of web addresses, acquired the company and still operates the .tv domain today.

It’s agreed to manage the .tv address for the next five years, and the payments to Tuvalu’s government are said to be around two million dollars a year.

Harsh history

The small series of islands situated in the South Pacific between Australia and Hawaii has a population of just 11,000.

Formerly known as the Ellice Islands, there is no point on Tuvalu higher than 4.5m above sea level.

Local politicians have campaigned against climate change, arguing it could see the islands swamped by rising sea levels.

Life on the islands is simple and often harsh. Until the turn of the century, its small size and almost total lack of exploitable resources meant the country was dependent almost entirely on farming or fishing.

When Tropical Cyclone Pam hit the Pacific island nation last year, more than 300 people on the country’s three northern islands had to evacuate their homes, with high winds and huge waves hurling sand, boulders and debris.