Category: UAE Domain News

Internet Domain News

Besides .io and .ai, there have been hardly any “new” country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) in recent times that have stood out alongside the already established extensions such as .co, .me, .de or .co.uk. The situation is different with .AE – the country code extension for the United Arab Emirates. High-priced sales of domains like binance.ae for $300.000 and invest.ae for $75.000 have put the .AE extension in the focus of businesses and investors alike. But what do we know about .AE and where did its rise come from?

We spoke to Munir Badr, founder & CEO of AEserver. While based in the United Arab Emirates, AEserver operates with customers from all over the world, has a strong presence and footprint in the MENA region, and is currently the largest privately owned accredited .AE domain name registrar by market share. In our interview, Munir not only gives us a lot of insights into the world of .AE, but also about the people in Dubai using these domains and under which conditions the domain landscape has developed there.

1.    Hi Munir, please tell us more about who you are.

My name is Munir Badr; I am the founder & CEO of AEserver.com (AEserver) – a UAE-based company that I started in 2005. Today, AEserver is the household name for domains, web hosting, productivity applications, cloud services, and other web presence solutions and is a critical player in the Middle East.
I have been a UAE resident since 1996; this is my home where I live with my family.

2.    Which TLDs are of particular interest to your customers and your business?

.ae is the ccTLD for the United Arab Emirates, the most popular and widely used local domain (or ccTLD) in the Arab region with over 250,000+ active registrations. In addition to .ae domains, AEserver offers other regional domains such .QA (Qatar) and .BH (Bahrain). The list of available domains is not limited to the local ccTLDs: we support hundreds of popular extensions, including the well-known .com, .net, and a wide variety of new gTLDs such as .email, .online, .photography, xyz, etc.

3.    You have a deep passion for .ae domains, which are available since the early 90ties. Tell us about your first experiences and where this enthusiasm for domains and the .ae TLD came from.

The United Arab Emirates has been booming in the oil, construction, real estate, and hospitality industries. This created a sweet spot for the digital world. The overall growth of this region fueled my passion, and I wanted to mirror this growth onto the national domain name, the .ae. We experienced a tremendous expansion through international clients seeking to start in the UAE’s market and they would naturally look for the matching .AE domain name for their brands.
We offered an easy, all-digital process, including a local representative service to register .ae domains via our website. Seeing happy clients getting the name they want was the best part of my day!
Today, the .ae domain is an unrestricted zone. Any person or business from any country can register a domain name in real-time and host it with any provider. There are no documents or manual action required, just like the .com!

4.    What can you tell us about the domain growth of .ae? Have there been any particular developments and milestones in the last two years?

Earlier this year, the local regulator, The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) which manages the .ae registry (aeDA), announced the registration of 15,000 new names under the national domain (.ae) in the year 2021, bringing the total number of registered names to 237,000 as of the beginning of 2022. This increase confirms the confidence of companies, entrepreneurs, and investors in the advantages provided by the national domain, drawing its strength from the reputation of the UAE as an active economic hub, with its global and regional standing.

5.    A quick research on which companies are online with a .ae domain shows that everything from a small cafe with delivery service around the corner to various services and brands is represented. How would you describe your target audience? Who are the owners of .ae domains?

Our customers include  a young, 100% digital nomads who intends to revolutionize the world, retailers of every nature – a trendy coffee shop, a car body shop, a furniture store selling antiques, and grocery stores – governmental organizations, individuals offering services such as yoga or tennis lessons, large corporations, and businesses operating in a wide range of industries such as constructions, health, hospitality, media, crypto, travel, and others. Thanks to the constant diffusion of digital solutions and services, we have been able to address the constantly evolving needs of a growing community of businesses and entrepreneurs operating in the UAE, the MENA region, and internationally.

To be 100% honest, I find elements of pride and personal satisfaction when customers from the US or Europe rely on AEserver’s solutions for their digital needs: it’s an indirect confirmation of the excellent work done so far.

6.    E.g., in Germany or other European countries, users generally trust their ccTLDs a lot, so having an online presence in the respective ccTLD is essential. At the same time, in the US, not too many companies care about .us. How high is the relevance for companies and acceptance of .ae in the population?

The .ae domain name leads the way here. Plenty of incredible and short names are available for registration at regular prices; hence, this is the first choice for new and existing businesses looking to target the local audience. The name is very trusted as a government regulator backs it. Domain registrants are confident that by booking a .ae domain name, their rights are secured by strict and transparent policies. The UAE is well known for having well-written policies based on best international practices. The registry coined a creative term for this purpose: “If it’s in the UAE, it’s gotta be . AE”.

As in many other countries, brand protection is highly regarded in the UAE. Therefore, it is common for our customers to secure several regional ccTLDs and the most popular international gTLDs (typically .com & .net), ensuring their nascent ideas or existing businesses can successfully scale in the digital space.

7.    What role do domains play in the marketing mix of companies? How vital are domains in the age of social media?

Let me reiterate that while domains still represent a significant portion of the AEserver business, our portfolio of services and solutions is much broader than just domains. That’s key to addressing the variety of customers’ needs who have embarked on their digital journeys. Let me share two examples: a nascent and an established and growing business.

Choosing the right domain is critical when incorporating a new idea. As mentioned before, brand protection might translate into identifying several permutations of the domain name with necessary extensions. Over the years, new domains may be added to the original portfolio: more realistically, though, as the business matures and evolves, other digital services become more central and relevant to running the operations successfully. Back-up solutions, productivity tools, CRM services, and security products are a few of the logical additions a growing business should consider over time.

At AEserver, we address all these needs according to the evolution of an existing business, providing the right tools and – even more relevant –super professional customer care, often the killer feature.

8.    Now we’re building the bridge to the secondary markets: Are there still good .ae domains to register?

The short answer is yes. The number of .com domains is close to 175M, meaning 175 million different names (and URLs) with a .com extension. Therefore, the sky is the limit for .ae! While all the two letters and most of the three-letter names are taken, there is an ocean of great dictionary words. There is also an increased demand for .ae domains in the aftermarket. This can be witnessed by plenty of sales that have been reported to the public, and some names have fetched as much as mid-six figures USD$, which by the way, have been completed over Sedo’s platform.

9.    How do you rate the performance of .ae domains on the international secondary market?

The performance on the aftermarket has gone through the roof during the last 12 months. There have been two 6-figures publicly reported for sales: binance.ae for $300,000 and auto.ae for $101,000. However, most of the other sales remain private as we sometimes notice our clients doing internal transfers of domain names to another party, and they mention the reason as “sold” when new ask.

Overall, there have been over 100+ public reported sales in the .ae aftermarket; the average sale price was around $13,000.

 

10.    When we meet people at trade shows and conferences worldwide and explain our business model – domain trading – we always meet people who don’t know that you can buy and sell domains on the secondary market. What are your experiences with the public knowledge of a primary domain market and a secondary domain market in the Middle East?

I guess that the situation doesn’t differ from any other advanced market. Awareness is high among industry experts, probably average in large organizations, and low among end-users. Educating our customers is one of our goals at AEserver. We regularly produce original content on various subjects to inform our customers and provide inspiration. We will soon make broadly available a series of articles to introduce, educate and explain the benefits and opportunities offered by the secondary market offering concrete examples and a detailed How-To guide to remove upfront any fear and doubt on how to operate in this space. It is also important for clients to correctly interpret the rule & regulations of owning a domain name to be sure that the rights & the investment are protected.

There is an increasing demand for valuables & digital assets such as unique mobile numbers, short number plates, NFTs, etc. It’s just a matter of time for the domain names to become a popular asset to own and showcase!

11.    What advice do you have for businesses that need a .ae domain, and what advice do you have for investors looking to add .ae domains to their sales portfolio?

Let me share with you one of the many unique traits of the UAE & the region: Fancy Plate Numbers. Local drivers are willing to pay premium prices for car plates with distinctive combinations of letters and digits. In 2021, a bidder paid over $10M for a single-digit Dubai plate. So, my first advice would be to be creative and descriptive at the same time, knowing that an efficient SEO strategy starts from a well-conceived domain name.

If what you have in mind has been previously registered by someone else, don’t be afraid and carefully evaluate your options in the secondary market. Investing in the right domain name is a wise marketing move with positive repercussions and ROI over time.
Brand protection is another suggestion, focusing on current and potential future interest and expansion geographies.

The last utterly unbiased advice is … doing business with AEserver!!!
As mentioned above, there are still names available to register at AEserver and already registered names avalaible for sale: See the full list here.

Thanks Munir for taking the time and sharing your knowledge with us!

 

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UAE Domain News

The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) announced the registration of 15,000 new names under the national domain (.ae) in 2021, bringing the total number of registered names to 237,000 as of the beginning of 2022.

This increase confirms the confidence of companies, entrepreneurs and investors in the advantages provided by the national domain, drawing its strength from the reputation of the UAE as an active economic hub, with its global and regional standing.

Commenting on these figures, Eng. Abdulrahman al-Marzooqi, Director Policies and Programs Department at TDRA, said: “An internet domain and website act as the official presence of an organization or company online, keeping it in touch with the whole world. Since a website is an important asset for any organization, the .ae domain allows the organization to present itself as part of the highly reputable economic environment of the UAE, bringing the organization many prospects for growth and interaction with the world.”

Mr. al-Marzooqi confirmed that the team at TDRA is constantly working on managing the national domain name and facilitating its access to all who wish to make use of it, saying: “The .ae Domain Administration (aeDA) is constantly working to provide the best user experience and the necessary support services through authorized agents, where registration is fully automated and processed without human intervention in just a few minutes, which positively reflected on the .ae turnout, as shown by the figures today.”

TDRA pointed out that “.ae” aims to enhance leadership of local companies and support strategies of organizations in the UAE. aeDA is also working on “.ae” policy development in line with international best practices, as well as providing technical support around the clock, monitoring by the support team and quick communication with registrars and registrants in the event of an emergency.

aeDA was established in 2007 by TDRA in the UAE as the regulator and registrar of the .ae ccTLD., and the Arabic “.” domain name. aeDA is responsible for the control and implementation of all policies related to the operation of UAE’s top-level domain “.ae” and ., in addition to overseeing the operation and organization of the registration system in service of all parties.

 

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UAE Domain News

Over 42,000 people, representing leading tech companies from around the world, gathered in Lisbon, Portugal this week for the massive Web Summit 2021 conference that ended Thursday (November 4). Intis Telecom, the new owners of IT.com (just purchased in a $3.8 million transaction we told you more about earlier this week), was there to showcase their new prize acquisition.

Intis is now using IT.com to sell third-level domain registrations under the marquee name. For example, names like keyword.it.com can be registered at a retail cost of $49. Intis also owns the UK.IT and throughout this year the company has been buying up two-letter .IT domains in other extensions including .hn, .to, .ax, .sb, .uy, .tn, .by, kz, .ae and .broker with the prices they paid for IT in those TLDs ranging from $2,000 up to $25,000. The new 3rd level registration service will be offered on all of those extensions as well.

Read more pm DNJournal

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Abu Dhabi has just announced its official internet domain name. The Capital’s digital identity in the virtual world is now .abudhabi, and this domain name will be used to promote the emirate locally, regionally, and internationally across tourism, culture, and economy sectors.

The domain name is accessible to all citizens, residents, and employers, as well as for organizations interested in local business opportunities, events, festivals, and fairs hosted annually by the emirate.

 

To register a .abudhabi domain name, follow the steps here.

Commenting on the announcement, Mohamed Abdelhameed Al Askar, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Digital Authority, said: “We are very pleased with our adoption of the .abudhabi domain, which highlights the fact that the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is proceeding with confidence and speed in the process of digital transformation, based on the ambitious vision of our wise leadership to build and shape the digital future of the emirate in a way that supports innovation, the application of digital solutions and effective initiatives that strengthen the economic environment in the Capital.”

Al Askar added: “This initiative contributes to elevating the UAE’s Global Innovation Index status and promotes Abu Dhabi in the tourist, cultural and economic arenas through this distinctive domain name, an attractive factor for companies interested in business opportunities and local and international events and fairs hosted annually by Abu Dhabi.”

Al Askar has called on all companies in Abu Dhabi to register and reserve their domain names. To date, more than 550 names have been registered to the .abudhabi domain, and the number is growing daily.

 

Read more on Khaleej Times

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The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority has announced its new brand identity, which is in line with the directives of the wise leadership represented in Decree No. (23) issued on September 27, 2020 to amend some provisions of the Decree Law No. (3) of 2003 regarding organization of telecommunications sector. The amendment includes addition of the “digital government” to the responsibilities and name of the Authority.

The new identity reflects the central role of the Authority in line with the orientation of the UAE over the next fifty years, which includes accelerating the pace of digital transformation in the UAE and shaping a future based on advanced technology supported by artificial intelligence, smart cities, and a knowledge-based society and economy.

The announcement was made in a virtual press conference held by the Authority in the presence of H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, leaders and employees of the Authority and media representatives.

The Authority had launched a series of brainstorming workshops and consultations to choose the new brand identity of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority. The new identity is aimed to have a set of well-established meanings such as trust, leadership, innovation and future foresight. At the same time, the identity is aimed to reflect simplicity and aspiration towards customer happiness. The new design came as a result of these internal consultations and activities, and as a summary of the meanings to be implied in the Authority’s orientations for the next phase.

On this occasion, H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority said: “We are proud of the high confidence given by the wise leadership to the Authority by adding digital government to its name. We see this as a mandate we are honored to carry out, and as a challenge that we place at the top of our missions for the next phase. We insist on achieving success as we did in our previous tasks under the guidance of our wise leadership and with the support of the national teams in the authority and other government partners in digital transformation. We also depend on support of our ICT sector partners, who held the responsibility with us and contributed to the country’s leadership in ICT.

He added: “Today we launch the new identity of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, which expresses the Authority’s aspirations for the next 50 years. It is embodied in the investment of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and 5G potential for enabling digital government and achieving digital transformation. Digital transformation is now a strategic social and economic program aimed at facilitating people’s lives, and providing them with quick solutions and services around the clock.”

Ms Ahlam Al Feel, Director of the Authority’s Corporate Communications Department highlighted the implications of the new brand identity, saying: “We made the new brand ends with the letter A on purpose. It is the start of the English alphabet and it is the end goal for the UAE citizens whose final objective is always the 1st place.”

She added: “The Authority leadership wants to convey an important message by this brand: “We are inspired by our leaders to start from the dream and the vision. We write our story from the last chapter, and then we start the journey of implementation.”

The new logo of the authority is attractive and modern with a lot of prestige and power. It tells a visual color story that symbolizes communication and correlation. It reflects the image of optical fibers, and their impact on the advanced telecommunications sector.

The new logo clearly expresses the long-term future vision of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority. It is simply abbreviated as (TDRA). It easily pronounced in both Arabic and English.

 

Read the whole article at: TDRA

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Millions of people all over the world browse the internet every day. They browse it by typing in something called a domain name into the address bar of the web browser. The browser and technology behind it then get you to the website you wanted. But how exactly do domain names work and what are they anyway?

What are domain names?

The simplest way to put it is: if your website is a house, a domain name is your address. A domain name is the address people type into the browser URL bar to get to your website. For example, for www.gulfbusiness.com, the domain name is gulfbusiness.com.

Although they might look identical, a domain name and a URL are two different things. The domain name is the actual name of the website, for instance, www.gulfbusiness.com, whereas a URL is the entire path of a website that leads you to a particular page like https://www.gulfbusiness.com/economy/.

Basically, the URL is the complete internet address used to locate a specific page and it includes the domain name.

The two most common types of domains are top-level domains (TLDs) and country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs). TLDs are well-known domain name extensions, like .com, .net, and .edu. Meanwhile, ccTLDs are country-specific domain name extensions, such as .uk or .fr.

Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which TLD it belongs to.

Choosing your domain name

When registering your domain name, it is important to choose a name that is unique, short, memorable, easy to remember and relates to your business with the matching keywords.

This, however, is challenging today since most of the “good” names are taken. Every supercar business wants to name their website supercars.com but by nature, domain names are unique and only one party can hold a name at a time.

This is where creativity and innovation come into place.

At the launch of the internet, only a few domain extensions existed such as .com and .net. And then came country level domains like .ae.

But the geographical connect can also be made extending the domain name by adding a keyword such as supercarsabudhabi.com.

In line with the trend of geographical names coming to this space, UAE capital Abu Dhabi has also recently introduced .abudhabi as a top-level domain name to drive the emirate’s global promotion, boost online business and bring more attention to the country.

Registering your domain name in the UAE

In the UAE, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) is the regulatory body and registry operator for the .ae country code and .Emarat (Arabic) domain name.

You can register a domain ending with .ae or .Emarat (Arabic) from 22 accredited registrars as well as the two telecom operators, Etisalat and du.

Regarding the other top-level domains such as .com, you can choose from global and local registrar companies. Each top-level domain and country-code top-level domain is delegated to a registry, which is responsible for operating and setting all policies.

 

Read more on GulfBusiness

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UAE Domain News

The US-based technology giant opened a first in the world artificial intelligence centre for energy in Dubai, so it could develop technologies to be used globally.

The virtual inauguration of the centre took place on Wednesday and is based at the company’s office in Dubai Internet City. Microsoft Energy Core, the centre’s name aims to start developing AI-focused technology beginning from September.

“It’s a global initiative … Microsoft’s first centre to focus solely on energy and sustainability … majorly we will be exploring AI and cloud computing,” said Omar Saleh, Microsoft’s Middle East and Africa head of energy and manufacturing.

 

Read more: The National

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Google – one of the world’s most popular Internet search engines – has launched four new country-specific domains – one of which is the ‘ae’ domain of the UAE. The three others include Singapore, Greece and Finland.

When a UAE-based surfer clicks for Google, its advanced software recognises the origin of the request as coming from the UAE. It instantly produces its ‘ae’ webpage which is in Arabic.

To access the English language page, a Net surfer needs to click on the ‘Google in English’ option or go to the master Web site of Google.com.

“We are delighted to announce that as part of Google’s ongoing effort to make its search services available to people throughout the world, the company launched four new country-specific domains including: Finland, Greece, Singapore and the UAE.

“These new sites offer a localised interface and enable users to restrict searches to pages from their respective countries,” said Debbie Frost, Google spokesperson.

 

Read more at: Gulf News

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Even though Arabic language is booming and is one of the fastest-growing languages globally, it is still facing access challenges online.

In 2013, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) rolled out domain names in Arabic, Chinese, German, Russian and Cyrillic scripts.

When Russian and Chinese Top-Level Domain names have grown in leaps and bounds, Arabic domain names and country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of UAE (.emarat), Arabic equivalent of .AE domain extension, .Al Saudia for Saudia Arabia and .Misr for Egypt did not grow correspondingly and did not close the gap between the Arabic content and the Arabic user.

Top-Level Domains are letters after the final dot of a domain name like .com, .ae and .net while “.Shabaka” (in Arabic means .web) was the world’s first Arabic new Top-Level Domain (TLD).

Top industry experts said that the key reason is due to the lack of Arabic content online despite the growth in Arabic speaking population.

“The other reason is universal acceptance. Most of the e-commerce and online banking platforms accept emails in ASCII or Latin characters and does not recognise Arabic or Chinese email ID address. People go and register for domain names in Arabic but there is a limitation in how they could use the domain names because domain application of a domain name is email and if you want to use your email ID in your local language and if you are not able to do that, then it is a problem,” Baher Esmat, ICANN’s vice-president for stakeholder engagement in the Middle East, told TechRadar Middle East.

Despite great efforts from the ICANN and the domain managers in the countries to spread awareness on these domains, Munir Badr, Founder and CEO of AEServer, one of the accredited domain name registrars under the TRA for .ae, said that the general public and businesses, in general, prefer to use the common domain extensions in the English language as they are by far more popular, easy to type and use by everyone and in some cases cost less to register compared to the IDNs.

Esmat said that some Gulf Cooperation Council countries, apart from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia have a large Arabic-only speaking population and they use mostly Arabic language on their mobile phones and social media.

From an ICANN’s point of view, he said that the organisation’s role is to ensure that domain names work securely and stably.

icann

 

Internet penetration rate in Middle East

“When communities around the world ask ICANN to make domain names in different languages, ICANN has to respond to their needs. Whether the domain names are working or not is ICANN’s business or our responsibility,” Esmatsaid.

According to ICANN, the largest country-level domain names, in terms of registrations, are China and Russia.

“When we have millions of domain names in China and Russia, we have less than 1,000 TLDs in Arabic in Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries. This may change as our region is the fastest-growing region on internet usage globally,” he said.

According to Internet World Stats, the Middle East had a population of 258.37m as of April last year and out of this, 175.50m are internet users, which translates to 4% of the total internet users globally.

The internet penetration rate in the Middle East stands at 67.2%, higher than the rest of the world at 56.5% and higher than the global average of 56.8%.

According to Ethnologue, Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world in 2019 with 319m after Chinese, Spanish, English and Hindi.

Badr said the low usage is mainly due to lack of interest from the registrants.

“If we look at Dubai in general, the language of business is English and with a high ex-pat population, many of the business decision-makers are well aware of the domains and had prior experience by using a generic domain name such as .com or .net or country-level domains (ccTLD) so they will opt for a .ae name and a .com name as a bundle and both in Roman script,” he said.

On the other hand, he said that .ae is one of the best performing domains in the Mena region with over 230,000 domain names registered and is extremely popular within the UAE and it is also cost-effective and easy to register.

However, he said that there is lack of awareness and no big or well-known brands or government agencies are using such domains.

 

Read more on Tech Radar.

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UAE Domain News

TRA Reveals the Market Shares of the National Domain (.ae) Registrars

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has revealed the market shares of its accredited registrars, and as well as those responsible for managing registration processes in the national UAE domain (.ae), for the first half of 2017.

According to the report issued by the national Domain Administration Department in TRA (.aeDA ), the number of companies that monitors the registration process reached 23 accredited registrars. Etisalat came first with 73% of the market shares, followed by Instra with a market share of 6.4%, and AEserver in the third place with 5%.

Commenting on this report, H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director-General, said: “The UAE national domain (.ae) is one of the distinguished aspects of UAE’s online presence. We perceive a growing interest from the private sector companies in registering their national domains, which reflects the UAE’s market position and reputation. It also reflects the wish of these companies to enhance their association with the UAE’s name. The use of the national domain is a clear indication of its relevance to reliability and credibility for companies operating in the country, as it increases the customers’ confidence.”

Furthermore, Engr. Mohammad Al Zarooni, Director Policy & Programs Department in TRA, said: “We have taken many steps to enable customers to complete their registration in the national domain, within no more than 3 minutes. These efforts have contributed to the rate increase of companies’ demand for registration. Achieving the top position in the Arab region in terms of registrars in the .ae domain is a motivation for further achievement.”

The Domain Name Administration (.aeDA ), the regulatory body and registry operator for the .ae domain, a subsidiary of TRA, is mandated to manage the national domain (.ae) and the Arabic domain name (امارات. ). The .aeDA is responsible for developing and implementing the .ae domain’s policy, as well as developing, upgrading and marketing the .ae domain, accrediting and managing the registrars, educating the public, promoting and enhancing the .ae domain, facilitating relevant dispute resolution policy and representing .ae domain

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UAE Domain News

TRA Announces that the Number of Registrations in the National Domain (.ae) Has Reached More than 200 Thousand Registered domain names

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) announced today that the number of Registrations in the national domain (.ae) have reached more than 200 thousand registered domain names. This announcement comes as a part of a special periodic report issued by the .ae domain administration in TRA as the .ae ccTLD (country code top-level domain) registry.

This figure reflects a remarkable growth rate of more than 14% compared to the latest report issued by TRA in this regards in December of last year, where the total number of domain registration was 175 thousand registered domain names.

Confirming the importance of these figures, H.E Eng Majid Sultan Al Mesmar ActingTRA Director-General said: ‘The UAE national domain maintains the lead with regards to the number of domain registration in the Arab World. This reflects the companies, business sector and the customers’ confidence in the provided services, and its positive impact on their commercial activity. For achieving customer happiness and continuous upgrade in the quality of provided services, the registration process is distinctive by its simple procedures and the availability of short and attractive names.

Al Mesmar added: ‘The national domain (.ae) contributes in  better serve the internet industry presence and developing the digital content in the UAE, and we look forward to maintaining the steady growth rates in the coming years  which would allow us to enhance the leadership of the UAE in all fields related to TRA  work.’

Furthermore, Mohammad Al Zarooni, Director of Policy & Programs Department in TRA, said: ‘We maintain our efforts to make the national domain (.ae) the obvious perfect solution for the internet community-at-large in the UAE. We emphasize the importance of constant implementation of best practices and managing the internet domain names in a fair and transparent manner. We have certified more than 20 accredited registrars, who are qualified to provide excellent service, which would open the competition doors to provide the best offers, prices, services and quality standards for users. ‘

The national domain name (.ae) attracts key companies intending to take advantage of business opportunities, events, and exhibitions hosted by the UAE. The use of the national domain name also ensures to maintain the intellectual and commercial property rights of the owners of well-known brands in the world. The registration process is very simple, as it does not take more than3 minutes, given that accredited registrars are competing to provide services with the highest standards, including smart applications and online registration.

The.ae Domain Administration (.aeAD ), the regulatory body and registry operator for the .ae domain, a subsidiary of TRA, is mandated to manage the national domain. It has also established the new framework, which comprises of an administrative structure, clarifying the roles in the sector, to guarantee a sustainable growth of the namespace and promoting competition by accrediting multiple .ae registrars.

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UAE Domain News

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has released data revealed by the .ae Domain Administration (aeDA) on the UAE’s registrar market share, unveiling the .ae domain name registration for the period between January and August 2014. Through this step, the TRA aims to encourage local businesses to optimize the use of national domain names, which are currently witnessing the highest registration rate among top-level domain names in the Middle East and North Africa with a record 124,000 .ae registered domain names.

Etisalat, which recently launched its e-registration system, recorded the largest share of new domain names registered under the national domain.ae among other accredited registrars, followed by Tasjeel.ae which ranked second and AESERVER in third place.

The released data also reveals the share of each accredited service provider on the international level, where Etisalat continues to have the largest market share of 65.5%, followed by Instra Corporation 9.5%, and AESERVER 4.4%. Other accredited registrars had 20.6% of the market share. There are now 21 accredited registrars with the aeDA registry in the UAE.

The TRA applauds the efforts of local and international accredited registrars for providing the best services and recognizes the growth of their activity and their improved performance. Some registrars enhanced their service by providing registration processes via smart devices so that companies and their representatives can begin the process anywhere, taking only two minutes to complete it.

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UAE Domain News

.ae domains shares
.ae domains shares

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has released data outlining the market share of registrars in the UAE to encourage local businesses to register for the national top level domain name (ccTLD) of the United Arab Emirates .ae. Accelerating the efforts of the Authority to promote more registrations in the UAE since surpassing 100,000 in September 2012, the data illustrates the stake each provider of domain names has in the UAE. According to the sixteen registration providers assessed, the data indicates that Etisalat has the largest market share (72.21%) followed by Instra Corporation Pty Ltd (8.94%) and 101Domain Inc (3.31%).

“It is important that local businesses understand the benefits of registering with the .ae domain name. The dotcom space is currently saturated and by using .ae businesses will be afforded with a larger choice of potential names for their website. It also allows customer to be immediately aware of the location,” said Mohammad Al Zarooni, Acting Executive Director Policies and Program in the TRA.

“The UAE is recognized worldwide for its outstanding ICT infrastructure, its pioneering business community and its ability to create cutting edge and innovative online content. With more businesses registering with the .ae domain name, the UAE is creating a stronger presence online.  The TRA have deliberately streamlined the .ae registration process making it easier for businesses to register and I encourage all those who have yet to create a localized domain name to do so right away as it truly represents their UAE identity on the Internet,” he added.

Highlighting the market share of each UAE provider in terms of registrations, the ‘Registrars Market Share July 2013’ report highlights the following data: Etisalat (72.21%); Instra Corporation Pty Ltd (8.94%); 101Domain Inc. (3.31%), IP Mirror, (3.07%); AESERVER (2.80%); Ascio (1.91%); DURRAQ  “Tasjeel” (1.73%); InterNetworX Ltd & Co KG (1.44%); MarkMonitor (1.17%); InterNetX GmbH (0.98%); MARCARIA.COM International Inc. (0.87%); EITC PJSC (du) (0.66%); Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property TMP Agents (0.42%); Safenames Ltd (0.29%); Innter.net (0.11%); Klute-Thiemann Infomationstechnologie GmbH&Co.KG (0.06%); CPS-Datensysteme GmbH (0.03%) and Consultix GmbH (0.00%).

 

To register a .ae domain name businesses first need to choose and contact a .ae accredited registrar. A .ae accredited registrar is an organization authorized to register and manage domain names on behalf of registrants Authorization to be a registrar of .ae is granted by the .aeDA after strict criteria is met.

The .ae Domain Administration (aeDA) was established in 2007 by the TRA as the regulatory body and registry operator for the (.ae) domain name. aeDA is responsible for enforcing all policies on the operation of the (.ae) country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) as well as overseeing the operation of the registry system. Its role is to develop and execute the domain administration policy; grow, develop and market the (.ae) namespace; accredit and manage (.ae) registrars; educate the public on the domain name, deliver and promote the domain name; facilitate the (.ae) Dispute Resolution Policy; and represent (.ae) at international forums.

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UAE Domain News

A uniquely Arabic top-level Internet domain set to launch in 2013 is expected to prompt a significant shift in the communication between brands and Web denizens in the Arabic-speaking world.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the global regulator of Web addresses, today approved the launch of شبكة. (.shabaka, which translates to .web).

Moving away from non-Arabic Internet namespaces such as .com, .net and .org, the introduction of شبكة. will provide the Arabic speaking world with a uniquely Arabic-orientated corner of the Internet.

The launch of شبكة. is part of the new top-level domain programme that is being rolled out by ICANN and شبكة. became one of the first new domains, beating around 1900 other applicants globally.

Yasmin Omer, general manager of International Domain Registry, the Internet technology company behind شبكة., said she believes the new domain will become the centre of all things Arabic on the Internet.

“I expect شبكة. to be one of the biggest innovations in the Arab digital and online landscape in 2013. It is set to totally redefine the way businesses and users approach the Internet in the global Arabic speaking community,” Ms Omer said.

شبكة. will be the first cross-border Arabic domain extension open to all Arabic speakers across the world, reflective of Arabic culture and society. It will offer businesses and website registrants a targeted online channel to reach the entire Arabic-speaking community in their native language.

“شبكة. will be a game-changer for the Arabic community,” Omer said. “It will open a channel to intuitively connect Arabic speakers to Arabic content and provide an end-to-end Arabic online experience.

“There is enormous commercial potential in the digital Arab landscape and Arabic script Web addresses like شبكة. will be a significant factor in helping the next 90 million Arab Internet users navigate to Arabic content. شبكة. will help provide the platform needed to fuel greater Arabic orientated online entrepreneurism and innovation.”

Now that شبكة. has passed ICANN’s evaluation process, there are only a few more policy, technical and regulatory steps to be completed before the namespace is opened live on the Internet in mid 2013 for public registrations.

The successful passing of ICANN’s evaluation today for شبكة. follows top-level discussions held in Dubai earlier this month at the Arab multi-stakeholder Internet governance forum. At the forum, industry and policy leaders from across the region discussed how they can nurture the development of the Internet and the introduction of شبكة. was said to be a vital component of these talks.

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