Launch of South Sudan ccTLD 28th August 2019

On 28th August 2019, the Republic of South Sudan Launched its ccTLD NIC.SS. AFTLD was represented by Mr. Abdalla Omari, a member of the Executive Commitee who played a key role in the delegation of the ccTLD while serving as the CEO of the Kenya Network Information Centre.

The Launch was facilitated by the National Communications Authority and brought together Stakeholders  from Government, Civil Society, Private Sector, Academia and the local Technical Community.

NIC.SS participated in the AFTLD Training during the Africa Internet Summit and promised to participate actively in the Regional ccTLD Association. This was affirmed by Mr. Omari during his presentation as he also took stakeholders through the structures and programs of AFTLD. This included the various MoU’s it has signed with Regional and International Internet bodies that would be of benefit to NIC.SS.
What does ccTLD even mean?

A ccTLD is a country code top-level domain extension that is assigned to a country. Similar to the telephone country code of 211, websites and domains also come with their own country codes. Each country has their own domain extension based on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes. For example, websites in Uganda carry the .ug code, in Rwanda the .rw code and in Tanzania the .tz code. South Sudan websites will, therefore, carry a .ss code. How cool is that!

How is the ccTLD important to the business community?

The following are some of the benefits that businesses can enjoy eventually benefiting the country as a whole:

– It creates more space for domain names for businesses/organizations in South Sudan. Today, most of the .com or .org domains that you might want to buy for your business may not be available. Well, with the .ss extension, you can obtain the domain name you wanted.
– It creates a new market for ICT companies. ICT companies can become registrars with approval from the National Communication Authority and become domain resellers. This generates business for them and creates employment.
– Businesses with customized domains and emails are perceived to be more trustworthy/credible than those that are using Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail. This enables you to switch to a customized domain/email.
– ccTLD offers local targeting and SEO (search engine optimization) benefits. Using a ccTLD extension gives you a higher SEO value for country-based results on Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine. This is because search engines return different results, including many local ones, depending on the IP address of the person doing the search. If someone in South Sudan does a search for web design in South Sudan, your South Sudan based ICT company website might appear higher in the search rankings than if you didn’t have the .co.ss extension.
– It creates a map for a whole new world of customers. Registering an appropriate ccTLD (or ccTLDs) is undoubtedly a crucial step in managing that presence. Companies with the domain. ss on it will definitely be associated with having operations in South Sudan.

Disadvantages?

I can’t think of any negatives that would come with the ccTLD launch in South Sudan. If there is any disadvantage, it certainly does not supersede the benefits that come with it. Today’s launch is a positive move for ICT in South Sudan and hopefully an indication of better things to come.

Additional Information by: Joseph Abuni GAMA, CEO of Dynamic Consult Ltd https://dynamicconsult.co.ke/south-sudan-launches-country-code-top-level-domains-cctld/?fbclid=IwAR1bTmabterfmxaFX_wAWACpcadBMWplbiIfNqJw860ZfRehNcztSUlkpK0