DotCities top-level domains are now open in the general availability phase, allowing anyone to register a .joburg, .capetown or .durban site on a first-come, first-served basis.
Wayne Diamond, MD of Domains.co.za - a local registrar accredited with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) - says today marks the launch of the ZADotCities general availability (GA) phase, which follows the parallel "sunrise" and "landrush" periods. These two ZADotCities launch phases gave intellectual property owners time to apply for their own city top-level domains.
"GA means that anyone, whether in South Africa or abroad, can register a dotJoburg, dotCapeTown or dotDurban city domain name with Domains.co.za for R275," says Diamond. This price excludes premium domain names which are subject to premium pricing from the ZA Central Registry (ZACR).
The launch, in April, of the new domains came after ICANN opened applications for new top-level domains toward the end of 2012. SA decided to take part and pitch for three main cities just as large capitals around the world, such as London, Paris and New York, were applying. The landrush period started on 1 July.
Having a city name as a top-level domain allows for destination marketing, because it creates awareness of cities through a Web site or e-mail address, Vika Mpisane, GM of the ZA Domain Name Authority, has said. He added SA did not want to be left behind.
Land grab
The ZACR notes intellectual property owners and others had by yesterday evening already applied to register 1 170 ZAdotCity domain names during the 120-day sunrise and landrush periods. Of these, 623 were for .capetown domains, outstripping the predicted .joburg favourite, which received 297 applications.
However, skewing the figures is the fact that a total of 297 applications for .capetown were registered by one, unnamed, person. The ZACR received 250 .durban applications.
Three of South Africa's four major banks have applied for a ZAdotCity domain name, although the banks' names were not disclosed. There are 32 auctions pending for domain names that have more than one applicant. Most of South Africa's favourite technology brands have applied for all three ZAdotCity domain names, says the registry.
It expects the current GA phase of the ZAdotCity domain names to lead to a substantial upward swing in the number of dotJoburg, dotCapeTown and dotDurban domain names registered by individuals and organisations.
Registration of names from today will follow the usual process whereby applicants register names through their chosen accredited registrars such as www.domains.co.za, which is South Africa's only operational ICANN-accredited registrar.
"Choosing a domain name with some local flavour should work well for many companies. As dotJoburg, dotCapeTown and dotDurban are new domains, everyone has an equal opportunity to get on board early," says Diamond.
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