Group Wants to Commercialize .NA But Is Getting Ahead of Itself
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Premature press release discusses re-launch of .na.
Could the African country of Namibia be the next to capitalize on a commercialized TLD, a la .tv or .co?
A consortium within the country would like to, but it may be getting ahead of itself.
I received a press release from Groot Group this morning that announces:
In an effort to help businesses and marketers around the world specifically target their online customers, the .NA domain extension is due to launch this year.
Groot Group says .NA can stand for “National” or “North America” and could generate $3.7 M for the Namibia Ministry of Education each year.
Leave aside the issue that a .(north america) domain name makes little sense, I became concerned as I read through the press release.
STRAAT Investment, the investment company that funded the successful development and launch of the .CO TLD is looking to finance the development and launch of the .NA domain. While technology industry heavy weight firms of Afilias USA Inc. and Neustar Inc. are poised to provide the needed backbone Internet technology and infrastructure needed for the smooth launch and operation of the .NA domain registration.
Notice how it says either Afilias or Neustar might be the registry provider? Strange. But if STRAAT is behind it then there’s some credibility. The problem: STRAAT isn’t behind it. I checked with the company’s managing director and he told me STRAAT isn’t financing .na.
The press release even has the familiar “About STRAAT” and “About Afilias” blurbs at the bottom, which makes it look like they endorsed the press release.
Groot may not have the blessing and approval of the Namibia government yet, either.
It appears .NA may be getting ahead of itself. Either way, I think it has little more appeal than Somalia’s .so, which prompted many people to ask “.so what?”
Further Reading:
It makes me wonder who is going to take care of Cap Verde and when.
Elliot made a post about his interest in .na Can’t seem to find the post on DNF or his blog now.
There is no demand for .NA as a generic for “North America”. It is a much worse version of .ASIA
I am not a big fan of re-purposing ccTLD in the first place. They exist for local usage, and I don’t think bastardizing them is great for the local market.
Brad
Wait a second, this appears to be nothing to do with the legitimate ccTLD manager for .NA!
GROOT does not have the blessing or approval of NA-NiC,
either. Nor are we behind this.
Which could have easily been established by contacting us.
A little research into the checkered past of the individual behind this should also be in order.
el
Or it could stand for Nambia.
@ Dr Eberhard W Lisse – that’s why I wrote “Groot may not have the blessing and approval of the Namibia government yet, either.”
There’s a question whether a blessing from the Namibian government is even relevant, which I’m sure Mr Lisse will be happy to explain to you at length.