KeNIC to start roll-out of Second Level Domain name space in July

“This is a great milestone for our country and Kenyans in general and shall give the DOT KE domain a competitive advantage in the global domain market,” read a statement from KeNIC.

In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a second-level domain (SLD or 2LD) is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain (TLD). A Second level domain is also a premium domain name, and can conveniently be used together with the Third level domain.

For example with the introduction of 2LD organisations like CIO East Africa can register as www.cio.ke unlike previously where the registry only allowed 3rd level domains thereforefore www.cio.co.ke

KeNIC also said that securing 2nd level domain shall be done progressively in different phases. The roll out date for the 2nd Level Domain is 23rd July 2017.

The move to introduce Second Level Domain name space comes at a time when, Kenya has seen an increase in the adoption of the .ke domain as Internet uptake continues to grow.

Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya’s ICT Sector Quarterly Statistics Report for the Second Quarter of the Financial Year 2016/2017 showed that the number of registered .ke domains stood at 62,215 up from 60,998 the previous quarter.

The increase in new domain registrations comes after the the body in charge of the .ke domain, reduced the cost of registering on the domain.

In a report by ICANN released earlier this week, High Internet penetration and the high uptake of the .ke domain were among the factors that saw Kenya ranked as the second most successful African market for the registration of web addresses after South Africa.