In the recently released Communications Authority of Kenya report for Q3 2015/16 on the state of ICT in the country, Kenya had 58,259 KE domains. 93.1% of these (47,803) were .co.ke domains used mainly by companies. This was followed by NGOs that use the or.ke domains with 1579 while learning institutions that use .ac.ke with 891 domains. Despite the growth in the number of domains quarter on quarter, Kenya still lags behind in terms of domain uptake.
In the African continent, South Africa leads in terms of localized domains which stand over one Million. There were plans to give individual cities in South African their own domain identifiers owing to this popularity. It is then followed by Nigeria and then Egypt. Closer home, Tanzania’s government through the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) recently issued a directive that all business registered in the country they should have and use dot(.) tz domain names. The regulations also require the use of .tz addresses in electronic communication and all official correspondences.
In Kenya, The Kenya Network Information Centre (Kenic) has been looking to increase the number of localized (.KE) domains. To spur interest, Kenic slashed the prices of domains by offering them at a wholesale price of Kshs. 650 from the previous Kshs. 1,000. The new price catalogue includes
- co.ke, .or.ke, .ne.ke – Ksh. 650 inclusive of VAT
- .me.ke, .go.ke, .ac.ke, .sc.ke – Ksh. 650 inclusive of VAT
- .mobi.ke, info.ke – Ksh. 650 inclusive of VAT
KENIC is also looking to allow users to register their domains at Huduma Centers countrywide which will make it easy for businesses in the rural area. In addition, KENIC is looking to proposed reforms in the company registration process, where just like Tanzania, Kenyan businesses will be required to use the .co.ke domains.
