ZACR Announces South African City gTLD “Price Freeze” Sale Till 8 July

ZA Central Registry ZACR logoThe three South African city new generic Top Level Domains have had their wholesale prices reduced to the same price as .co.za domain names, the ZA Central Registry has announced

ZA Central Registry ZACR logoThe three South African city new generic Top Level Domains have had their wholesale prices reduced to the same price as .co.za domain names, the ZA Central Registry has announced.

The “price freeze” for the .capetown, .joburg and .durban gTLDs is currently underway and runs from 4 July to 23h59 (SAST) on 8 July with the goal of boosting registrations.

There are currently about 10,500 South African city gTLD domains that have been registered by the ZACR and its registrar partners since they became available for public registration in July 2014.

“There is huge local and overseas interest in South Africa’s three major cities, both from a business and tourism perspective. We expect ZAdotCity registrations to experience continued sustained growth, as well as a significant spike during our Winter Price Freeze Sale” said Lucky Masilela, ZACR CEO.

Domains can be registered through ZACR accredited registrars such as instra, Africa Registry and Only Domains.

ICANN Opens Hotel Booking Links and Registration For Durban, But Check The Fine Print

ICANN logoICANN has opened links for hotel booking and conference registration for its upcoming 47th Public Meeting to be held in Durban, South Africa from 14-18 July 2013, the organisation has announced

ICANN logoICANN has opened links for hotel booking and conference registration for its upcoming 47th Public Meeting to be held in Durban, South Africa from 14-18 July 2013, the organisation has announced.

However attendees need to make sure they are going as any hotel cancellations appear to require three months notice.

Michele Neylon has read the fine print and noticed that:

Payment: A one (1) nights deposit is required to secure your room on submission of your booking. in order for your booking to be confirmed. The balance of you accommodation is due by the 31st March 2013.
Cancellations and No Shows
All cancellations must be received in writing. If received before 31st March 2013 a full refund will be passed less a 15% administration fee. After this date no refunds will be processed, but delegates can be substituted.
No-shows and cancellations after 31st March 2013, will be liable for the full fee.

The Durban meeting is one of three public meetings ICANN holds each calendar year in different regions of the globe. Usually comprised of more than 200 different sessions, these week-long meetings are the focal point for individuals and representatives of the various ICANN stakeholder groups to introduce and discuss issues related to ICANN policy. Participants may attend in person or remotely. Meetings are open to everyone and registration is free.

There is still time to register for ICANN 46 in Beijing, People’s Republic of China from 7-11 April 2013.

More Information

ICANN Goes To Durban in July 2013

ICANN announced this week it will be holding its second meeting for 2013, and 47th all told, in Durban, South Africa. It will be the second time the organisation has held a meeting in South Africa, with Cape Town being the venue for the 21st meeting in December 2004.

ICANN announced this week it will be holding its second meeting for 2013, and 47th all told, in Durban, South Africa. It will be the second time the organisation has held a meeting in South Africa, with Cape Town being the venue for the 21st meeting in December 2004.The proposal for the South African meeting comes from the .za Domain Name Authority and the dates are 14 to 19 July 2013. And the budget is not to exceed US$2.472 million.Upcoming ICANN meetings are Toronto, Canada (14-18 October 2012), Beijing, China (7-11 April 2013) and then Durban. The third meeting for 2013 is scheduled for the Latin America/Caribbean region.

Three Largest South African Cities Join gTLD Applicants

The three largest South African cities of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town have all decided having their cities as generic Top Level Domains is a good idea and have joined with ZA Central Registry, who will apply for the gTLDs

The three largest South African cities of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town have all decided having their cities as generic Top Level Domains is a good idea and have joined with ZA Central Registry, who will apply for the gTLDs.

The three gTLDs – .JOBURG, .DURBAN and .CAPETOWN – will join .AFRICA as four applications ZA Central Registry submitted to ICANN in April before the TLD Application System was taken offline on 12 April due to a security problem.

Of the .AFRICA application, Uniforum SA director, Neil Dundas said “The dotAfrica TLD will bring the continent together as an internet community under one umbrella allowing e-commerce, technology and infrastructure to flourish,” according to MyBroadband.

Dundas said he hopes the .AFRICA gTLD will be launched in early 2013 with domain names priced at US$18 (R150) per year, while pricing for the South African city gTLDs will be slightly more expensive.

The applications for the city gTLDs were motivated by interest the registry has seen from various South African entities and because of the international trend of cities branding themselves and competing with each other for attention online, according to a Tech Central report.

A condition of the application for .AFRICA has been the establishment of a foundation to assist the African registrar community.

Vika Mpisane, Managing Director at the .ZA Domain Name Authority, told Tech Central that part of the application process was for a .AFRICA foundation to be established.

“This was an AU requirement,” Mpisane said. “There will be surplus [money] from commercial uptake and this is expected to be used to build a domain-name community. We’ve set up a steering committee, with the chairman based in Qatar.

“The model is simple: extra money goes into building an African registrar community. There are more than 1000 accredited registrars worldwide, but only four in Africa. We need to grow this number because registrars provide the marketing channel for domains.”

The bid for .AFRICA could be contested by other parties who previously have expressed an interest in applying for the gTLD, but with the application backed by the .ZA Domain Name Authority and the South African Department of Communications, as well as the support of the African Union (AU) and 40 of the 54 African states, it is likely to be the preferred bid. One of the rules for a geographic gTLD application is that it must have the support at least 60 per cent of the respective national governments in the region. But they also have to be concerned that “there may be no more than one written statement of objection to the application from relevant governments in the region and/or public authorities associated with the continent or the region.” Which would cause a problem if another applicant gained some support of a number of African states.