The registration period for .ie web addresses with one-letter and two-letter domains – such as aa.ie or t.ie – opens from today, the IE Domain Registry (IEDR) has announced.

Businesses and individuals can register for the new addresses until December 16th in a stage of the process known as the “sunrise phase”. Once the deadline passes, two-letter domains applied for by a single party will be registered immediately, while two-letter domains from multiple applicants will go to auction in January 2016.

Applicants must prove a connection to Ireland and a legitimate claim to the domain name sought, the IEDR said. These requirements apply to all .ie domain registrations.

There are 676 possible two-letter combinations, like pc.ie, hr.ie and gp.ie. Abbreviations shared by one or more companies, such as hp, bt and aa, are likely to go to auction. When the British domain registry made one- and two-letter domains available in 2011, strong demand and a competitive bidding process saw more than £3 million raised at auction.