The ZA Central Registry NPC (ZACR) has announced that there are now over 1.25 million individual domain names registered within South Africa’s flagship CO.ZA Internet domain.
“It speaks volumes that CO.ZA has powered over the 1.25 million-mark during the current lockdown. Anecdotal evidence suggests that South Africans are increasingly snapping up domains to help them launch businesses, pursue creative and study endeavours, secure their digital identities and generally become much more active online,” says Lucky Masilela, ZACR CEO.
Lucky Masilela, ZACR CEO said new domain name registration by SMMEs (Small, Medium & Micro Enterprises), in particular, have picked up significantly since late March, with many new co.za registrations since the Covid-19 lockdown.
The co.za second-level domain now accounts for just over 95 percent of all domain name registrations within the .ZA country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD).
“Our current model championed by the late Minister is one of the reasons South Africa boasts the highest number of domain name registrations coupled with the lowest domain name operating and registration costs on the continent, even within the current framework of an inflationary-based wholesale fee adjustment request,” says Masilela.
“Significant benefits have already been unlocked by using a local player and home-grown technology to establish an SA-based Central Registry. We’re confident that the benefits of enabling the Authority to interface with a single, local player rooted in African excellence will increasingly be felt as the Central Registry takes CO.ZA and the other managed second-level domains to even greater heights,” concludes Masilela.
