Etisalat to acquire its own TLD
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Etisalat to acquire its own TLD

Etisalat has passed initial stages of the procedure to acquire its own Top-Level Domain (TLD).

TLDs are the letters which appear after the final dot in a domain name and Etisalat, which would use the word “etisalat” in Arabic, and claims it is one of the first companies in the world to do so.

“As one of the most innovative companies in the Middle East, it makes sense for Etisalat to progress toward getting a Top-Level Domain before virtually anyone else,” said Ahmed Bin Ali, group SVP of corporate communications at Etisalat.

TLDs have previously been restricted to generic web terms but the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has changed certain regulations to allow businesses, governments and communities to apply for new domain names.

“These changes are a natural step in internet evolution and they will promote the diversity of language and culture and give billions of people a more convenient way to access the web in their native tongues,” Bin Ali said.

“Giving more Arabic speakers access to our websites will help us build relations with communities in some of our operating countries.”

Nearly 2,000 organisations have applied for TLDs and ICANN has released the results of around 30 evaluations per week for the last two weeks.

It is expected to continue to release results every other Friday until June when this figure will increase to 100.

“This new program is the result of many years of policy development and implementation work aimed at increasing diversity, competition and innovation to the Domain Name System, and applicants such as Etisalat have spent countless hours to prepare,” said Fadi Chehade, president at ICANN.

Etisalat recently partnered with PCCW Global to interconnect MPLS and Ethernet servicesin the Middle East.

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