If it's happening in the world of domain names, you'll find news about it here! Regular updates about issues and topics of interest in relation to international and Australian domains.
February 26, 2015
The ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) recently celebrated the .ZA extension reaching 1 million current registrations - a first in Africa.
.ZA is for use by, and benefit of persons and entities that are based or active in South Africa. ZADNA is a non-profit company established to administer and regulate the .ZA namespace in compliance with international best practice; licensing and regulation.
ZADNA said most of the domain registrations are in .CO.ZA (970,530 as at February 26). Next in line - and quite some distance away - is the .ORG.ZA extension, with 28,921 registrations as of February 26. WEB.ZA and NET.ZA account for less than 2,000 combined.
Growth in the .ZA space increased after the establishment of the ZA Central Registry in 2012 (formerly known as UniForum SA), which simplified the registration process - and made it cheaper. There certainly isn't a lack of places to register a name, with more than 400 registrars now accredited.
Vika Mpisane, CEO of ZADNA, sees a very bright future for the .ZA registry.
"With around 50 million South Africans, around 24 million of whom have access to the internet, reaching a million mark should be taken purely as a motivation to reach the next few millions, and this will require continued investment in education and awareness."
While Australia has far higher domain registration per capita, the one million mark is quite impressive given the registry's comparatively late start and South Africa's demographics. The registry is in the top 30 world-wide in terms of size.
There are currently 54 ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) registries operating name spaces of African countries.
Last year, ZACR and ZADNA received the "Best Registry" award in the first ever African Domain Name Industry Awards established by ICANN Africa, the AfTLD and ISOC Africa.
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