Dot africa domain is out: Here’s everything you need to know

dot africa domain

The four-long battle for who manages the dot Africa has almost come to an end which means you should be able to register your .africa domain soon. Two companies South African ZA Central Registry and Kenya-based Dot Connect Africa have been battling in court over who should be the official ICANN-accredited registry of the domain. The ZA central registry has finally won the case.

Why are domain names a big deal?

Well, the internet is built around inter-connected computers can communicate with each other. These computers have numerical addresses known as IP or Internet Protocol address such as 85.159.211.23 — which by the way is the computer hosting this website’s files. However, these numbers are not easy for us ordinary human being to remember. Hence the need for human-friendly and memorable names such as google.com or dignited.com.

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Internet registries are responsible to giving out these names at a fee. They hold the “phone book” of the internet. For instance the internet registry for .com is called verisign and the one for .ug is Infinity computers and communication company. Usually registries delegate their duties further to registrars who take on the task of registering top level domains. For instance godaddy or name.com or namecheap are all registrars for .com domain. You can read more about how the whole thing works on my personal blog.

Who’s selling dot africa domain

So ZA central registry is the official registry of the dot africa domain. However, as explained above, it’s possible for you to book your dot africa domain from other registrars. Currently you can book or pre-order a dot africa domain from the registry itself at https://www.registry.net.za/ or from accredited registrars who so far include name.com and 101domains.


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Who should apply for dot africa domain?

Having a dot africa could be a cool thing but it’s not for everyone. You should consider buying a dot africa domain if;

  • You are a pan-African organization e.g africanheritage.africa
  • Digital market place targeting the whole african continent e.g classified.africa
  • Media company targeting African audience e.g dignited.africa
  • An artist whose music has an African appeal e.g mafikizolo.africa

How much are dot africa domains

The official price of the dot africa domain is not yet out. However, the dot africa domain is expected to cost from $30-100 depending on several factors including demand of the top level domain.

If you have booked for yourself a dot africa domain, let us know in the comments below

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