Abu Dhabi and Dubai : The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has set a press conference during GITEX Technology Week, launching the new Arabic top-level domain name new identity and trademark. The conference, which kicked off at 11:00 am at TRA stand, was attended by a remarkable number of visitors and media figures as well as guests interested in information technology.

H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General, addressed the attendees marking the traits of the Arabic top-level domain name dotEmarat and the launching stages it has undergone. Al Ghanim highlighted the fact that the TRA has dedicated ‘phase one’ to governmental entities, while dedicating the currently-commenced ‘phase two’ to trademarks.

H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General, commented on launching of the Sunrise Period stating that: “The Arabic top-level domain (dotEmarat) presents a unique opportunity for companies looking to expand its customer base. Ownership of such domains will secure intellectual property rights related to the name and opens vast opportunities for more companies to take advantage of the Arabic names for their brands.”

Al Ghanim added: “The volume of Arabic content on the Internet is huge, but inability to write domain addresses in Arabic alphabets constituted a barrier for a large segment of Arab users. This was the main driver that sparked the adoption of the idea to present Arabic top-level domain names.”

During his speech, Al Ghanim demonstrated the benefits of launching dotEmarat on culture and language heritage to form a supporting pillar for the Arabic language across the Internet. It also breaks barriers encountered by Internet users that only speak Arabic.

The largest share (about 30 per cent) of Internet users speak English, followed by Chinese (20 per cent) and Spanish (8 percent), while the share of the Arabic content reaches 3% only.

The conference illustrated the commercial benefits dotEmarat offers to trademarks. It forms a crucial ability to interlink with a new segment of users. This connection embodies a bridge that leads this new division to understand and utilize the Internet services. It is considered a remarkable asset for trademarks willing to interact in Arabic. Also, dotEmarat can be used in commercial campaigns targeting the Arabic user, especially since the new Arabic top-level domain name is currently a broad market incorporating an assortment of unique names that fits the activities offered by every company, unlike the cliché top-level domain names where obtaining a new name has become close to impossible.

It is worth noting that the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has obtained the approval of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), thus becoming among the first countries of the world to launch an Arabic top-level domain name which reflects the wish of the authority in supporting the Internet, empowering the UAE leading role in the areas of IT and telecommunications.