Nigeria Cuts .NG Domain Prices By 40% From March 1, NiRA Says

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A .NG domain name review starting March 1 will result in about 40% price cuts on the Nigerian internet name under plans by its managers to boost uptake, Mr. Muhammed Rudman, President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) tells Technology Times.

NiRA, the multistakeholder body that manages the country-specific .NG identifier of Nigeria on the internet says it is reviewing the price, among other plans, to boost adoption among the internet community, particularly Nigerians.

“We looked at our mission and realized that for us to achieve that mission,” the NiRA President tells Technology Times in an exclusive interview on Sunday, “we need to ensure that Nigerians adopt .NG. And one of the issues identified in terms of the discussions with the community, as well as a survey that we did with the Registrars, we found out that the common denominator is actually pricing because Nigeria is a country that is sensitive to pricing.”

How NiRA Manages .NG Domain Name Trade

The Nigeria registry, NiRA, adopts the 3R operations model (Registry/Registrar/Registrant) in the .NG registration, hence NIRA does not handle the registration of domain names directly. Registrations of .NG domain names can only be done through NIRA-certified Registrars that “facilitate the registration, transfer, renewal, and modification of registration data for customers that have, or are applying for .NG domain names.”

Because NiRA trades in .NG registrations through its Registrars, the domain name manager does not disclose figures, but Rudman explains that the downward review across the various levels of the two-letter Nigerian internet will lead to as much as 40% price cuts. 

According to Rudman, “for the second level of .NG domain directly, there would be around 40% discount, and while the .COM.NG, which is already cheap at the retail price sometimes is less than ₦1,500, we have dropped it, but not significantly. I wouldn’t want to mention the prices yet because, you know, we are selling it to Registrars.” 

The NiRA President tells Technology Times that “we have a 3R model where we sell to our Registered Registrars, and our Registrars sell to our Registrants. We don’t want to disclose the amount. What prompted this is that we reviewed our vision.”

Based on that, Rudman says, “we decided to review the pricing downward creating more opportunities for Nigerians to adopt the .NG.”

Under the plan, NiRA says it is signing up more Registrars to promote the .NG to Nigerians and the Internet community, by dropping “the barriers of entry for anyone to be a NiRA Registrant.

“So we hope to see more people as Registrars, so those that will start running the business of domains by working,” he says to promote the Nigerian domain names across the country and beyond.

Rudman adds that “initially we had this categorization in NiRA where you have platinum, gold, silver, and standard. We have removed that categorization. It has been eliminated. And therefore the entry barrier to anyone becoming a Registrar is going to be simplified because we are working on that process to simplify the process of onboarding of new Registrars, as well as, you know, reducing the cost of entry.”

PRICES OF .NG DOMAIN NAME EXTENSIONS AMONG SELECT NIRA-ACCREDITED REGISTRARS