South African Internet domain holders are far happier keeping their .co.za domains and are not really considering buying into top level .com domains.
This is according to research commissioned by the South African Domain Name Authority (ZA DNA) and conducted by local ICT research house, BMI-TechKnowledge.
According to the GM of ZA DNA, Vika Mpisane, 83% of surveyed domain owners preferred their current local domains over more widely used international ones like .com.
The authority commissioned the research to help it answer several looming questions about the future of SA's Internet structures and assist it in its planning for the industry. “South Africans are patriotic, and co.za has become a trademark for local businesses,” explains Mpisane.
He says locals also find it far easier to register local domains than internationally administered domains. Over the last year, the authority has been looking into the possibility of introducing new domains to the current structure presented in the market, including the possibility of a top level domain, such as www.name.za.
However, ZA DNA's research shows locals are not particularly interested in having a top level structure, primarily because of the possible costs involved. “Domain owners are mostly concerned they will have to now register both a .za and a co.za domain, which will increase their costs.”
International domain regulator ICANN has seen an increase in the registration of city domains by global domain owners. ZA DNA put the idea out to local domain owners, suggesting companies could register www.name.joburg.za. “The majority of people are not keen on this idea either, since many are worried that local cities undergo name changes too often. There is no guarantee that Cape Town will still be Cape Town in 10 years' time,” adds Mpisane.
While most people are comfortable with the status quo, some suggested new second level domains could be an option. Internet service providers in particular were interested in second level domains such as shop.za, or mobi.za, to join the likes of org.za and nom.za.
South African domain structures have long been left to their own devices and have evolved into a solid model. The authority got its hands stuck into the industry last year, with a considered set of regulations that will bring some basic uniformity to the registration of local domains.
Speaking at the launch of the regulations late last year, Mpisane quipped that .co.za was really an incidental choice for the local market, since co.sa had already been taken by another country.
Since then, co.za has become a South African Internet catchphrase and a popular identity for businesses locally. The co.za registrar counts the number of active .co.za domains in the region of 541 805 sites.
.ZA regulations on the horizon
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