Domains registered under the African country code top-level domains (ccTLD) have risen to over 4.33 million. This was contained in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN’s) publication of the 2023 Africa Domain Name Industry Study. It was presented at the ongoing ICANN80 conference in Kigali, Rwanda.
The report noted that as of November 2023, there were an additional 1.4 million generic top-level domain registrations from African entities.
The report, which was commissioned by ICANN and conducted by PowerSoft Africa, in collaboration with the Coalition for Digital Africa, provides a comprehensive analysis of the Domain Name System (DNS) landscape across the continent.
It marked significant advancements since the initial 2016 study and aims to inform future growth and development in the region.
The study explored the rapid growth and evolution of the DNS sector in Africa, providing a crucial snapshot of infrastructure development, digital divide issues, and domain name registration growth.
The domain name is regarded as a country’s identity on the Internet. While Nigeria has .ng; South Africa is .za; Kenya is .ke; Canada has .ca; United Kingdom has .uk, among others.
MEANWHILE, Nigeria’s domain name, the .ng registry increased to 225,533, according to data made available by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA).
NiRA is the registry for .ng Internet Domain Names and maintains the database of names registered in the .ng country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD).
This was disclosed by NiRA at the ICANN80 forum in Kigali.
In her presentation at the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) session, the Head of Corporate Services at NiRA, Busayo Balogun, said the Association had launched a dashboard for real-time updates on .ng domain name registrations. She said that the .ng domain name has continued to garner popularity in usage for websites and email addresses.
According to her, the dashboard shows the .ng domains have increased to 225,533 from 222,820 reported earlier in the year. She told the audience that through its 3R – Registry, Registrar, Registrant – model of operation, NiRA contracts more than 100 registrars to provide registration services to the public.
“An end user selects a registrar to provide the registration service, and that registrar registers the domain chosen by the user. NiRA does not register users directly. This model has helped us to maintain decorum.”
NiRA President, Adesola Akinsanya reiterated NiRA’s commitment to driving .ng domain adoption and advancing Nigeria’s digital landscape.
“This growing trend underscores the domain’s significance and its role in establishing a strong digital identity for businesses and individuals alike.
“Additionally, we are currently conducting the .ng brand survey to gauge the awareness and adoption levels of the .ng domain among Internet users in Nigeria.
“I encourage everyone to participate in this survey and share their valuable insights,” he said.
