2010-01-21 17:44:54
WAM Abu Dhabi, Jan 21st, 2010 (WAM)--The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) has registered another millstone with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN's) approval of the string (emarat) as the official Arabic top level domain for the United Arab Emirates.

The announcement made by ICANN follows TRA's announcement to use of the Arabic top level domain name for the UAE in GITEX 2009, providing the approval of ICANN. The .ae Domain Administration (.aeDA) was established by TRA as the Regulatory Body and Registry Operator for the .ae domain name. aeDA is responsible for enforcement of all policies reference to the operation of the .ae country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) as well as overseeing the operation of the Registry System.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) re-delegated the UAE ENUM space (971) to TRA, which in turn entrusted .aeDA with the management of the whole issue. Since then it has proven to possess an excellent capability to manage the .ae ccTLD from both administrative and technical perspectives in compliance with International Best Practices.

The UAE successfully passed the rules set by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICCAN), an organization responsible for managing the sources of the numbers and names on the Internet. Thus, the UAE has become one of the first countries to receive approval.

The decision to introduce Arabic domain names will contribute to increasing the number of surfers to Arabic sites and further promote and strengthen the UAE's identity. Presently, most websites in the country use the �.ae' English domain address, which is regulated by the TRA's.

WAM/MN