As of December 8, 2014, it will be possible to register a domain name consisting of only one or two alphanumeric character(s) under the .fr. .Fr is the ccTLD of France.
The opening will take place according to a specific timetable, in several phases:
Sunrise phase | From 8 December 2014, 14:00 UTC, to 9 February 2015, 23:59 UTC | Period during which rights holders can apply for the registration of their domain name(s) with 1 & 2 characters. |
Landrush phase | From 16 February 2015, 14:00 UTC, to 16 March 2015, 23:59 UTC | Period during which any interested party can apply for the registration of a domain name with 1 & 2 characters, provided it has not already been registered during the Sunrise phase. During this phase, Afnic will gradually apply price discounts. |
Opening for the general public | 17 March 2015, 14:00 UTC | From this date onwards, any person can register domain names with 1 & 2 characters that were not registered during the Sunrise or Landrush phases. |
The first-come, first-served principle applies to all of these phases.
Applicants must comply with the Naming Policy of the .fr TLD and with all the applicable registry policies at the time of the opening.
There is a document by Afnic describing the various phases of the opening of .fr one and two alphanumeric characters domain names to registration.
For the time being, the other Internet Top-Level Domains within the French namespace currently managed by Afnic (.re, .pm, .tf, .yt, and .wf) are not affected by the opening.
AFNIC is the French Registry for the .fr (France), .re (Reunion Island), .yt (Mayotte), .wf (Wallis and Futuna), .tf (French Southern Territories), .pm (Saint-Pierre and Miquelon). AFNIC is also positioned as a provider of technical solutions and services for registries and registrars. AFNIC (the French Network Information Centre) comprises public and private stakeholders, including government authorities, users, and Internet service providers (Registrars). It is a non-profit organisation.
Just a few days ago .PT, the ccTLD of Portugal, announced that it would be releasing 2-character domain names.
“Opening for the general public” phase is useless, all will be already sold.