.ma domain registration

Introduced	1993
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	Maroc Telecom
Sponsor	Agence Nationale de Réglementation des Télécommunications
Intended use	Entities connected with Morocco
Actual use	Popular in Morocco
Registration restrictions	Must have a local contact
Structure	Registrations are made directly at the second level or at third level beneath second-level categories
Documents	Charter
Dispute policies	[1]
Website	nic.ma

.ma is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Morocco. A local registrar with a local Moroccan company as administrative contact is needed to register an .ma or .co.ma domain name. Further restrictions are imposed on the registering of other second-level domains (such as .net.ma or.gov.ma).

Morocco has also attempted to claim .eh, the country code for the disputed Western Sahara, with the result that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has refused to delegate .eh to anyone.

[edit] History

In 2003, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) approved a request for delegation of the .ma ccTLD for administrative and technical contact to Ecole Mohammadia d'Ingenieurs.

In 1995 the technical management of the .ma domain was taken over by Maroc Telecom, which as of 2008(?) is still the technical maintainer.

On 12 May 2006 IANA redesignated the administrative and technical contact for the domain, and made ANRT the only official registrar for the .ma ccTLD.^[1]

Within some years the ANRT will request the market to bid on a "Technical maintainer" license which is valid for five years. The new party will get 12 months to implement a provisioning system based on EPP. It is not expected that before 2010 the provisioning of .ma domains can be made completely automatic.

[edit] Practical information

• Total hosts of .ma: 25,873 (29/11/2007)^[2]

• Total internet users in Morocco: 6.100.000 (2006)^[3]

• Total ADSL connection in Morocco: 550.000 (2007)^[4]

[edit] Second-level domains

Registration can be done directly at the second level, or at the third level beneath these names:

• .ma: General use
• net.ma: Internet providers
• ac.ma: educational institutions
• org.ma: organizations
• gov.ma: governmental entities
• press.ma: the press and publications
• co.ma: commercial entities

[edit] References

1. ^ "IANA Report on the Redelegation of the .MA Top-Level Domainaccessdate=2008-05-03".
2. ^ "Statistiques". NIC.ma. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
3. ^ "The World Factbook – Morocco". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
4. ^ "ANALYSE DE L’EVOLUTION DU SECTEUR DES TELECOMMUNICATIONS POUR L’ANNEE 2007". Retrieved on 2008-05-03.

[edit] External links

• IANA .ma whois information