Firms urged to adopt country’s .rw domain

Local institutions have been urged to adopt the country’s .rw Internet domain to promote local content and enhance their presence online. Didier Nkurikiyimfura, the ICT director at the Ministry of Youth and ICT, said many institutions and firms, especially the small-and-medium enterprises, do not have an online presence. He encouraged them to take advantage of the local domain and establish themselves on the web.“Every company can register a domain name to have a website under the .rw domain and a personalised email linked to the domain name,” he said.“Using the Internet helps you to reach a bigger audience both local and international. We set up a desk at the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) registrar’s office to create awareness among business and institutions on the importance of having a web presence. “The desk registers firms’ domain names, hosts and designs websites to ease accessibility of the services,” said Patrick Nyirishema, the head of IT at RDB.He said the Rwanda Information Communication Technology Association (RICTA), the organisation that acts as the .rw registry, meets international standards, adding that there was no difference in hosting in other domains like .com.He added that RICTA was still charging high fees because few companies are taking up the .rw domain.RICTA late last year gained full rights over the .rw domain from Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to manage the government’s web, which was formerly managed in Belgium by Frederic Gregoire, a Belgian entrepreneur, under his Swiss-based company NIC Congo-Interpoint.Meanwhile, Ghislain Nkeramugaba, the RICTA acting chief executive officer, has said Rwandan domain holders would be charged an annual fee starting from this month.“The wholesale price for non-citizens is 200 euros (Rwf167,000), but Rwandans pay Rwf30,000 for .rw. Those who subscribe on the .co.rw domain pay Rwf11,260,” he said. “We have about 1,700 institutions using the .rw domain, while the.co.rw one has 270 subscribers. There are 236 under .org domain and 11 use .net, while .ac.rw has 61 institutions subscribing and 1,100 are directly under .rw domain,” Nkeramugaba said.“Our business model is working with resellers who buy in bulk from RICTA, from which they sell to subscribers. So far, we have seven licensed registrars or resellers in charge of packaging the .rw to interested companies.”Previously, Rwandans had opted for international web domain names like .com because they were not aware of the .rw domain. “People did not know how to access it. Also, Rwandans could have been attracted to international domains because they are cheaper.”Nkeramugaba explained that international domains are cheap because they have high demand. “We are thus encouraging the public to start using .rw domains to enable us cut the prices, as we will then be hosting many businesses and institutions,” he explained.He said presently, RICTA’s main focus was to attract companies, co-operatives, non-governmental organisations and academia to use the local domains.“We have the required infrastructure to do the business professionally. That’s why we are encouraging Rwandans to register a local domain name either at the RDB desk or online,” said Nkurikiyimfura.

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Firms urged to adopt country’s .rw domain