.ma is the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

country code A country code is a short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas. Its primary use is in data processing and communications. Several identification systems have been developed. The term ''country code'' frequently re ...

top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domain name, domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the DNS root zone, root zone of the nam ...

(

ccTLD A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all tw ...

) for

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

(). A local registrar with a local Moroccan company as administrative contact is needed to register a .ma or .co.ma domain name. Further restrictions are imposed on the registering of other second-level domains (such as .net.ma or .gov.ma).

History

In 1993, the

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, Autonomous system (Internet), autonomous system number allocation, DNS root zone, root zone management in the Domain Name Syste ...

(IANA) approved a request for delegation of the .ma ccTLD for administrative and technical contact to

École Mohammadia d'ingénieurs The Mohammadia School of Engineers (, abbreviated EMI; ) is the first to be established engineering school in Morocco. EMI was founded in 1959 by the King Mohammed V as Morocco's first institute of technology, polytechnic, it's one of the largest s ...

. In 1995 the technical management of the .ma domain was taken over by

Maroc Telecom Maroc Telecom (IAM, ) is the main telecommunications company in Morocco. Currently employing around 11,178 employees, it is the largest telecommunications network in the country with 8 regional delegations and 220 offices present across Morocco. ...

, who is still the (not formal) technical maintainer. On 12 May 2006 IANA redesignated the administrative and technical contact for the domain, and made the ''Agence nationale de réglementation des télécommunications'' (ANRT) the only official registrar for the .ma ccTLD. Within some years the ANRT will request the market to bid on a "Technical maintainer" license which is valid for five years. The new party will get 12 months to implement a provisioning system based on Extensible Provisioning Protocol. Automatic provisioning of .ma domains cannot be expected until 2013. March 2015 the ANRT took official control of .ma and launches new automatic provisioning.

Practical information

* Total registered domains under .ma: 118,471 (2024-07-03) *Total internet users in Morocco: approx. 19,021,000 (2016) *Total ADSL connection in Morocco: approx. 550,000 (2007)

Second-level domains

Registration can be done directly at the second level, or at the third level beneath these names: * المغرب.: Arabic

right-to-left A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...

internationalized ccTLD for Morocco; General use * .ma: General use * net.ma: Internet providers * ac.ma: Educational institutions * org.ma: Organizations * gov.ma: Governmental entities * press.ma: Press and publications * co.ma: Commercial entities

Second top-level domain

A second top-level domain will be used for Morocco intended for domain names in the local language using Arabic characters. The string المغرب. has been registered and approved for this purpose, and was delegated to Morocco in April 2011, but it is not yet active (2015) and second level domains have not been granted yet.

References

External links

IANA .ma whois information

ANRT Registry website

List of .MA Domain registrars

.MA Domain whois

.MA Domain Name Registrar

.MA Official Registrar
Country code top-level domains Communications in Morocco Mass media in Morocco Internet in Morocco {{Compu-domain-stub he:סיומת אינטרנט#טבלת סיומות המדינות sv:Toppdomän#M