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.ae

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 85.23.32.64 (talk) at 05:50, 5 September 2010 (→‎IDN and Arabic domain names: spelling). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

.ae
Introduced1992
TLD typeCountry code top-level domain
StatusActive
Registry.aeDA
SponsorTRA
Intended useEntities connected with
 United Arab Emirates
Actual useVery popular in U.A.E.
Registration restrictions(only applicable to registrations under third level) Local presence. Must present documentation (business registration, certificate from relevant ministry (for org, mil, gov, sch and ac)
StructureNames can be registered directly at the second level; third-level registrations are also available under some second-level labels
DocumentsDomain Name Eligibility Policy
Dispute policies.aeDRP
Registry websiteaeda.ae

.ae is the Latin alphabet Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Arab Emirates. It is administered by .aeDA which is part of the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). The Arabic alphabet ccTLD of the UAE is امارات.

Second and third level registrations

Registrations are permitted directly at the second level (Unrestricted Zone) or at the third level (Restricted Zone) beneath several category labels. During 1995–2003 .co.ae was used for commercial entities, but this has been deprecated by UAEnic in 2003 in preference to the commercial use of second-level registrations; existing .co.ae registrations were allowed to be retained if their registrants so desire. During 2008 when .ae was re-delegated to the TRA, the .aeDA published new policies in which .co.ae was introduced only for local commercial companies provided that the name is connected to the business name.

  • .ae – Companies, organizations or individuals
  • .co.ae – Companies; was deprecated by UAEnic in 2003 and reintroduced by .aeDA in 2008
  • .net.ae – Network providers
  • .gov.ae – Government and Ministries
  • .ac.ae – Colleges, universities or Academic Institute
  • .sch.ae – Public and private schools
  • .org.ae – Non-profit organizations
  • .mil.ae – Military entities
  • .pro.ae – Professionals; was deprecated by .aeDA in 2008
  • .name.ae – Individuals; was deprecated by .aeDA in 2008

.ae domain names can be registered through one of the .ae accredited registrars.

Re-delegation of .ae

The .AE domain was originally delegated to UUNET. Recognising the domain should be administered in the country, the domain was transferred in 1995 to Etisalat, following a brief period of administration by the United Arab Emirates University. Since that time, Etisalat, through its division the UAE Network Information Center (UAEnic), has been responsible for the operation of the .ae domain.

During GITEX 2006, the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority TRA announced that the .ae ccTLD management and operations will be re-delegated to the TRA from Etisalat/UAEnic, the current .ae ccTLD manager. A new entity called .ae Domain Administration (.ae DA) has been formed to take care of management and operations of .ae based on latest DNS and Domain Registry technologies. During January 2008, IANA officially re-delegated the .ae Domain to the TRA.

On 3 August 2008, the .aeDA took over the DNS and launched their services with the new registry system which supports registry–registrar model. Currently the .aeDA has accredited eight registrars from different parts of the world. For the first time, Internet users in the UAE will be able to register and manage their domain names under .ae automatically using an online system without going through manual process which used to take up to six weeks for domain registrations. As per .aeDA policies, current domain holders are allowed to transfer between registrars at no cost.

The .ae is the first ccTLD in the Arab region to use standard Registry-Registrar model and the .aeDA is the first registry in the region to use industry-standard Extensible Provisioning Protocol to manage its domains.

Accredited registrars

As of 25 June 2009, there are 15 .ae accredited registrars as follow:

Transfer between registrars

Registrants (domain name holders) can transfer their domains from one registrar to another provided that they obtain a domain name password. Domain name passwords can be recovered online through .aeDA's website password-recovery.aeda.net.ae. After obtaining this password, registrants can supply this password to the gaining registrar who will be able to transfer it directly without dealing with the losing registrar. Losing registrars are prohibited from charging a fee when a domain transfer occur; however gaining registrars may do so.

Domain name pricing

.ae domain name retail prices ranges from 30 USD to 200 USD depending on the provider and the level of support and services provided with the domain name.

The .ae registration prices have noticeably dropped since the introduction of .aeDA. Prior to 3 August 2008, .ae domains were offered by Etisalat for around 41 USD per year while ac.ae, org.ae, gov.ae and sch.ae were offered for around 20 USD per year. International providers used to charge around 100–200 USD in order to cover the administrative cost involved in the manual registration process.

After .aeDA's go-live in August 2008, .ae registration price declined to as low as 30 USD with international registrars. Etisalat prices seems to be fixed at 41 USD per year.

Domain name count

During Gitex2008, .aeDA domain name counter showed over 90,000 domain names currently held in the registry, making it the largest ccTLD registry in the Arab region.

IDN and Arabic domain names

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of UAE (TRA) and .ae Domain Administration (.aeDA) showed great interest to make the UAE become the first country to offer domain names in Arabic script [1]. This will be finalized once ICANN finishes all preparations to allow Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) whereby non-Latin characters will be used for the first time on TLD level.

On 2nd of March 2009, The UAE's Ministerial Council for Services has passed a proposal by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to register the domain address of 'Emarat' in Arabic script (.امارات)for the country's Arabic domains. The domain in Arabic will contribute to increasing the number of surfers to Arabic sites and further promote and strengthen the UAE's identity [1].

During ICANN meeting no. 35 (21-26th of June 2009) in Sydney, .aeDA representatives mentioned that aeDA's EPP-based registry system is fully compatible with IDN protocols and guidelines.

In January 2010 ICANN announced that the UAE IDN ccTLD (xn--mgbaam7a8h, امارات) was one of the first four new IDN ccTLDs to have passed the Fast Track String Evaluation within the domain application process.[2]

ENUM of UAE (+971)

.aeDA, the registry operator of .ae is also the official operator for UAE ENUM Space (971). The ENUM space was redelegated from the incumbent operator Etisalat since 16th of April 2009.

References

  1. ^ UAEinteract.com. "Ministerial Council passes UAE domain in Arabic UAE - The Official Web Site - News". Archived from the original on 2009-05-27. Retrieved 2009-05-24. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "First IDN ccTLDs Requests Successfully Pass String Evaluation". ICANN. 2010-01-21.
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