.ma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| 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 impoesed 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.
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[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]
Since 4 July 2007 .ma cc/TLD has been available for commercial trade.
Up till then no official regulated or official trade was possible. The only way to obtain a .ma domain was by taking an ADSL connection from Maroc Telecom, and requesting a domain that could only be used over that ADSL connection.
A few companies started to abuse this method by resorting to corruption and changing the name servers so that the domain could be served with dedicated servers. Many issues evolved because those parties were not able to change the "Titulair" (domain owner) field at the register and did not formally own the domain. As of 2008 it is unclear what will happen to these domains. It is expected that legal procedures will start against some of these companies for domain hijacking, that some day the decision will be taken to give all (illegally) registered domains back to the public.[citation needed]
In January 2008 the first company called Sté DotMaroc.Ma SARL from Tetouan, Morocco was accredited and authorized to have an .ma domain name by both ANRT (registrar) and by Maroc Telecom (technical maintainer); according to a press release issued the accreditation process was over nine months long.
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
- ^ IANA Report on the Redelegation of the .MA Top-Level Domainaccessdate=2008-05-03.
- ^ Statistiques. NIC.ma. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
- ^ The World Factbook – Morocco. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
- ^ ANALYSE DE L’EVOLUTION DU SECTEUR DES TELECOMMUNICATIONS POUR L’ANNEE 2007. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
