By Gugu Lourie
Did you know the first co.za domain names to be registered in South Africa included mtn.co.za, multichoice.co.za, bmw.co.za, jse.co.za, nestle.co.za, anglo.co.za and telkom.co.za. There were 221 co.za domains registered in 1995 as the first crop of ZACR-registered domains.
“These “Platinum” domains were the forerunners of what became a world-leading domain name industry that has contributed enormously to the intellectual capital of the country,” said the ZA Central Registry (ZACR).
There are currently over 1 000 000 registered and active domain names ending in .ZA.
“The first group of 221 co.za Platinum domain names are significant because they had the vision to invest in the fledgling .ZA domain name system, and .co.za in particular, when it was trendy for South African firms at that time to acquire a .com domain, for example. We commend our Platinum registrants for their early confidence in South Africa’s homegrown domain name registry,” said Lucky Masilela, CEO of ZACR.
The ZACR operates co.za, web.za, org.za, net.za and the cTLDs (city Top Level Domains) of .capetown (‘dotCapeTown’), .joburg (‘dotJoburg’) and .durban (‘dotDurban).
“ZACR today is a well-established and effective registry operator able to adequately provide for the needs of the local domain name industry. We could never have become what we are today without the support of those early domain name registrants who had the confidence and the vision to registrar a .co.za domain name,” concluded Mr Masilela.