The .africa Landrush period commences today, 5 June, meaning the general public gets their first chance to register domain names in the African new gTLD.
The Sunrise period that ended 2 June saw, according to the registry for .africa, ZA Central Registry (ZACR), “significant successes” with “many of the continent’s biggest intellectual property owners across diverse industries have applied, either through the TMCH (Trademark Clearinghouse) or MVS (Marks Validated System), for .africa domain names matching their trademarks.”
The .africa Landrush Phase means applicants that do not have prior rights to a domain name can apply to register a .africa domain name. These domains are not allocated on a first come first basis and attract a higher registration fee. The four (4) Landrush periods will run consecutively for 5 days, with each one commencing on a Monday in June, and concluding the following Friday. Applications will be finalised at the end of each period but contested domain name strings will proceed to auction per the published auction policy.
“The dawning of the Landrush Phase means .africa registration will be open to everyone around the world, without any restriction,” said Lucky Masilela, CEO of ZACR. “This is a key milestone for the African and global Internet Community”.
General Availability for the African generic top level domain commences on 4 July on a first come, first served basis to anyone anywhere.
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