Following a decision last week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) gave businesses the go-ahead to apply for new addresses carrying almost any suffix.

The move adds to the current system, which restricts addresses to around 250 geographical or generic names such as .com and .biz, and is being hailed as one of the biggest changes in the history of the internet.

Internet users could now see a host of new websites crop up, with names to cover locations such as .london, or industries like .print or .prepress.

Nominet, the registry for .co.uk warned that businesses looking to create a new TLD would have to be prepared to make a significant investment in infrastructure to ensure a robust service for its users.

ICANN, which is a not-for-profit organisation, is expected to charge up to £50,000 ($100,000) for the new TLDs  to help recoup the £5m spent over the last six years investigating how this could work.

The organisation could also give priority for trademark names, such as ebay, to the respective company. However the appeal to a business of having to start up and manage its own trademark TLD is limited.

A further limit to the roll out is that there are no new IPv4 IP addresses being given out until 2011, while a full rollout of IPv6, which would offer more addresses, isn't expected for a decade, meaning the internet is already overcrowded.