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More than 17k new domains were registered in Saudi in 2023, rising 40%y-o-y, the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) said in its Saudi Domain Report 2024 (pdf). The rate of growth in new domain registrations tripled last year compared to 2022, the report showed. The private sector accounted for 89% of registered new domain names, followed by the public sector with 9%, and individuals at 2%, the report showed.
The monthly transaction rate on the CST’s registry system rose by 75% y-o-y last year, according to the report, with the monthly rate for inquiries on domain registration growing 87% y-o-y. The domains are supported by 150 distributed servers globally, including eight local servers across Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.
Amazon.sa and Google.com.sa were among the most visited domains at home, according to the report. Government websites such as the Interior Ministry’s Absher, the Kingdom’s official digital identity application Nafath, education platform Madrasti among others. AlRajhi Bank’s website, e-commerce platform Salla and buy and sell platform Haraj were also among the most visited domains.
How the CST transformed domain registrations: The report looked at the CST’s work to remodel domain registration in Saudi to the registry-registrar model, which follows international practices in the industry. Domain registrations are now made through licensed registrars by the CST instead of direct registration through the governmental communications authority’s platform in a bid to boost the private sector’s role in the sector, according to the report. Registrants were given a transition period that allowed them to transfer the management of their domains to licensed registrars, without disrupting any of their services, it added.
SOUND SMART- What’s a registry-registrar model? In this model, accredited registrars manage themain database of domain names registered in the top-level domains (TLD) and other add-on services including hosting, email, and others. They then provide them to registrants who can manage everything related to domains through a one-step platform. Some of registrars accredited by the CST include dnet, Hawsabah, Sahara Net, NourNet solutions by stc, and T2.sa.
