Riyadh: The Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) published the second edition of the Saudi Domain Report 2024, intending to highlight the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's pioneering role in the field and raise awareness of the Saudi domain's importance and features as well as the licensed registrars' roles.

According to a press release from CST, the report revealed that over 17 thousand new domains had been registered during 2023, with a growth rate of 40%, three times the growth rate of new registrations in 2022.

The report pointed out the transformation journey of the Saudi Domain Names Registration model moving from direct registration through CST to licensed registrars (Registry-Registrar model), an international practice in the domain market. This shift required a transition period that gave registrants sufficient time to transfer their domain name management to the licensed registrars without affecting their services.

Furthermore, the report provided an overview of international domain names, noting that the internationally registered domains reached more than 359 million by the end of 2023, representing a 3% increase from 2022. The report also highlighted the market shares of licensed Saudi domain name registrars, with an annual growth rate of 11% three times the international growth rate. The registrar services are also included in the report, some of which are the ability to transfer domains from one registrar to another. The domain restores service in case the registration period ends without renewal within a period not exceeding one month. The renewal rate reached 84% in 2023, which is higher than the international average.

CST illustrated that the Saudi domain names are served by a resilient infrastructure with more than 150 distributed servers, making it one of the largest in the world based on international best practices and standards. According to the report, the monthly transaction rate on the registry system increased by 75% compared to 2022. Additionally, CST is committed to providing full support to registrants and registrars to ensure service quality. The report also revealed the list of the most visited Saudi domains in the Kingdom in 2023.

CST emphasized that the domain names service targets both the public and the private sectors as well as individuals and renews its call to register Saudi domain names through its licensed registrars to benefit from their services and features, while government entities can register their domains via the Digital Government Authority by visiting https://nic.sa/registrars/.