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

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.

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.

During mid October of this year, Instra (accredited .ae registrar) has decided to hike its price for .ae domain name registrations from the industry low of $33 to the industry high $75/year for .ae domain names registration. Guess what, existing clients who had hundreds of domain names registered with instra at super cheap cost must also pay the new price, which is over 127% higher!

Hundreds of domain owners have already panicked and started to look for a new home for their domains and hundreds more are not yet aware of this hike as there is no official comment from Instra with regards to this price hike.

It is very common in the industry to start with a price killer strategy and then hike the price all of the sudden. In most cases, the victims of such actions are budget conscious domainers who register in bulk, they will surely start moving the domain names away to local registrars which also sell the domains at $33/AED 120 / year.

More to come..

After reading an article in the UAE daily’s Gulfnews.com, we have stumbled upon an article written by the staff reporter Naushad K. Cherrayil about the sale offering for 2 domain names: luxurycars.ae and luxuriouscars.ae with an asking price of 15M Euro!!!

We have all heard about the sale of horse.ae a few years back for ~6M Dirhams which is also under question as the many factors and internet critics do not trust the trustworthiness of the sale.

We can believe in Horse.ae which has a cultural meaning to this part of the world to go off the shelve for 6M but somebody looking 15M Euro (72M Dirhams!!) makes no sense whatsoever!

After visiting the auction website at http://www.xandomain.com/ we can see that the seller offers 100k Euro for those who will help with the domain name sale. Maybe that’s why the reporter of Gulfnews published this article!

The article can be found here: http://gulfnews.com/business/automotives/expensive-domain-names-for-sale-1.1049347

What can we say, good luck to the buyer (yes not the seller 🙂 )

You can now benefit for the industry’s cheapest .ae domain name registration services at $33 (AED 120) per year from your local registrar WebOasis.ae! Look no further and do not go abroad for your local domain needs.

Weboasis.ae is a reseller of a local accredited registrar (Engage/AEserver) and they now offer industry’s best price with local customer support, live chat and UAE phone support.

Goto www.WebOasis.ae NOW!!!

WebOasis.ae (owned by Engage.ae, an aeDA accredited registrar) is offering first of its kind services for new potential clients. They offer an Unlimited WebSpace + Unlimited Emails Hosting Package plus 1 FREE .ae domain name registration for the life of the account. They charge AED 299 (US$ 82) per year for this service with no hidden charges. This means that the whole package costs as low as AED 25/month or 0.80 fils/day. This is a true 100% bargain and a first offer of its kind. Check out WebOasis on www.WebOasis.ae

Since the news of the launch of the sunrise period of the .emarat Arabic IDN on 10/10/2010, the aeDA has updated its website with all the accredited registrars that now have a license to operate in the .emarat IDN name space.

As of the date of this post, there is a total of 6 registrars that are accredited for both the .ae and .emarat out of the total of 14 registrars globally.

This shows high interest from both the registrars to enter into the new market and from their potential clients who seek to reserve their .emarat domain names immediately.

The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) announced today the opening of Sunrise Period for the Arabic top-level domain name (dotEmarat) for trademarks. The application process will last for two months starting from October 17 until December 15, 2010. The application process will be available through TRA accredited registrars.
The Arabic top-level domain name opens new doors for trademarks to communicate with a wide user segment that was reluctant to use the Internet because of the language barrier. It establishes a communication bridge through which businesses can deliver their messages and offer their services for that particular segment. Companies can use the Arabic domain name in advertisement campaigns that specifically target Arab audience. (dotEmarat) is still a spacious and wide market where companies can reserve distinct domain names that completely reflect their services and activities, unlike the familiar domain names where it is difficult to find suitable names.
H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General said: “The Arabic top-level domain (dotEmarat) presents a unique opportunity for companies looking to expand its customer base. Ownership of such domains will secure intellectual property rights related to the name and opens vast opportunities for more companies to take advantage of the Arabic names for their brands.”
“The volume of Arabic content on the Internet is huge, but inability to write domain addresses in Arabic alphabets constituted a barrier for a large segment of Arab users. This was the main driver that sparked the adoption of the idea to present Arabic top-level domain names,” he added.
Another advantage of the domain name (dotEmarat) is eliminating the need of transliterating Arabic words in English alphabets. Additionally, users of (dotEmarat) can easily type Arabic names in full and without substituting some of the Arabic letters that cannot be pronounced correctly with numbers. Thus, TRA was keen to create an online environment where users can count entirely on Arabic without using Latin letters.
The TRA has accredited many registrars to facilitate the application process for their Arabic domain names. Companies keen to apply for Arabic domain names can view a complete list of registrars by following the link registrars.aeda.ae. Comprehensive information about the Arabic top-level domain name (dotEmarat) is available at: policy.aeda.ae
The Domain Administration, one of the TRA initiatives, is responsible for Arabic top-level domain names (dotEmarat) and the national domain name (.ae), both in technical or legislative aspects. The first phase of launching the Arabic domain name was fully dedicated to the federal bodies and government departments, where it witnessed huge response. This reflects a clear desire by all entities in the government sector to use an Arabic domain name.

The ae domain name administration (aeDA) has recently launched a new website located at http://عربي.امارات/ This is the UAE’s internationalized domain name (IDN) .emarat that has been recently approved by the ICANN as a part of the IDN launch including the Russian and Chinese IDNs.

The website http://عربي.امارات/ which is currently an Arabic version only contains information for the public about the upcoming regulations and conditions governing the new domain name in Arabic.

As for the registration dates, which are at most importance to the domaining industry, the registry has followed a similar move like other registries and is offering the .emarat IDN in 4 different phases:

Phase 1:
Known as the Government Phase
Registration opened: 30/May/2010
Registration through the aeDA only.
Eligibility: All government entities in the UAE are applicable to apply and it has been also heard that the aeDA has made it mandatory for every government body to have thier .emarat domain registration and working.

Phase 2:
Trademark owners
Registration: 27/Sept/2010
Eligibility: Holders of trademarks (company registrations) in the UAE and GCC.
Registration through aeDA accredited registrars.

Note: There will be a separate accreditation process for new and existing registrars to operate in the .emarat zone.

Phase 3:
Exclusive and Special Names
Registration: 15/Nov/2010 through aeDA accredited registrars.
Eligibility: Everyone
Domain names that are requested by more than one party will be auctioned.

Phase 4:
Registration: 11/Dec/2010
Eligibility: Everyone, first come first served basis through aeDA accredited registrars.

This said, mark your calendars and prepare for which ever phase you are interested in to get your exclusive names before everyone else.

The Government of Dubai Media Office has announced the launch of the Arabic domain name of the website of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai.

The move follows a historic breakthrough after the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority won approval from the Internet Corporation Assigned for Names and Numbers (ICCAN) to use the internet domain in Arabic, placing the UAE among the first four countries in the world to register domain names in their official languages and not in Roman script.

Sheikh Mohammed’s website can now be reached through either of the following addresses when typed in Arabic script: “sheikh-mohammed-bin-rashid.emarat” or “mohammed-bin-rashid.emarat”, newswire WAM reported on Saturday.

The Government of Dubai Media Office has announced the launch of the Arabic domain name of the website of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai.

The move follows a historic breakthrough after the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority won approval from the Internet Corporation Assigned for Names and Numbers (ICCAN) to use the internet domain in Arabic, placing the UAE among the first four countries in the world to register domain names in their official languages and not in Roman script.

Sheikh Mohammed’s website can now be reached through either of the following addresses when typed in Arabic script: “sheikh-mohammed-bin-rashid.emarat” or “mohammed-bin-rashid.emarat”, newswire WAM reported on Saturday.

The Government of Dubai Media Office said that this remarkable achievement reflects Sheikh Mohammed’s keenness to promote the Arabic language, and reaffirms the UAE’s deep-rooted Arab identity.

With a substantial increase in the number of internet users in the region, Arabic domain names will allow a greater audience of Arabs to access information online, WAM said.

Emphasising the importance of the Arabic language as a key symbol of national identity, the UAE government decided in March 2009 to authorise Arabic as the official language at all federal institutions and entities, it added.

Available in both Arabic and English, Sheikh Mohammed’s official website is the leading source of news and information about his activities, with an archive of more than 30,000 articles, 18,000 photographs and 1,500 video clips.

The latest figures put the number of visitors to the site at about 85,000 per month, at a rate of 3,000 hits per day. Since its launch, the site has received 180,000 e-mails and over 7,000 visitors have left messages on the guestbook, according to WAM.

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