In a meeting of ancient and modern, Internet users will, for the first time, be able to register website addresses using Greek characters in just over a month’s time, the telecoms market regulator said yesterday.

From July 4 and for a fee of 44 euros plus VAT to cover a two-year period, those interested in securing their website address (ending in .gr) in Greek characters will be able to use one of the 257 companies in the country that offer domain name registration services.

The move will help increase the use of the Internet and technology in Greece, thereby offering better services to web surfers, said the head of the National Telecommunications and Posts Commission (EETT), Manolis Yiakoumakis. Figures released by the National Statistics Service last November showed that almost one in three households owned computers but only one in five Greeks was online.