Qatar opens .QA domain name registration to the public

While for the past few months, the whole world has been focused on the availability of a very different kind of domain name, Qatar has now made the Qatar-specific domain name .QA available to the general public. It will also be making its Arabic domain name ( .قطر ) available to the public in October.

The public availability of the .QA domain will be a huge boon for Qatar-based businesses, as well as for one of the most active online populations in the Middle East. Qatar’s population may be small (1.4m), but its Internet penetration stands at 66.5%, and is at the top of the list in the region’s Twitter usage. If the statistics are a reflection of Internet awareness in the country, the domain names could get snapped up pretty quickly.

While Libya’s domain name, .LY, proved to be popular globally, Qatar’s may not necessarily follow suit. How many English words can you think of that end in QA?

If you do want to register a .QA domain name, simply head over the Qatar Domain Registry to see if your desired domain name is still available. If it is, you can register it through a list of specific registrars although not all of them seem to be up to speed with the announcement. We spotted .QA domains available on IPMirror for $52 a year and on Marcaria for $39 a year.