ICANN has its headquarters in Los Angeles (file pic)

The agency that oversees internet domain names says it will open a satellite office in China, home of the world's largest internet population.

Monday's announcement comes as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers holds its spring meeting in Beijing this week. ICANN bills the office as an "engagement centre", a way to stay in closer contact with internet users and policy makers.

ICANN has its headquarters in Los Angeles and plans hubs in Singapore and Istanbul by mid-2013 to cover the world's time zones. The Beijing centre would report to the hubs. No date was given for its completion.

ICANN is in the midst of increasing the number of domain name suffixes to rival ".com" and others. It has tentatively approved nearly 100, including several using Chinese characters.