The government of Bahrain has announced that it is relaunching its .bh domain and البحرين. ccTLDs with a simplified, automated, standardized registration process.
Here’s everything we know so far.
What’s a ccTLD?
First things first, what’s a 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 two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.
In 2018, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) began implementing internationalized country code top-level domains, consisting of language-native characters when displayed in an end-user application. The creation and delegation of ccTLDs are described in RFC 1591, corresponding to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes.
While gTLDs have to obey international regulations, ccTLDs are subjected to requirements that are determined by each country’s domain name regulation corporation. With over 150 million domain name registrations today, ccTLDs make up 40% of the total domain name industry.
Country code extension applications began in 1985. The registered first extensions that year were .us (United States), .uk (United Kingdom), and .il (Israel).
There are 308 delegated ccTLDs. The .cn, .tk, .de and .uk ccTLDs contain the highest number of domains. The top ten ccTLDs account for 64.3% of registered ccTLD domains and there were 156.5 million ccTLD domains registered at the end of March 2021.
IANA is responsible for determining an appropriate trustee for each ccTLD. Administration and control are then delegated to that trustee, which is responsible for the policies and operation of the domain. The current delegation can be determined from IANA’s list of ccTLDs.
Individual ccTLDs may have varying requirements and fees for registering subdomains. There may be a local-presence requirement (for instance, citizenship or other connection to the ccTLD), as, for example, the Canadian (ca) and German (de) domains, or registration may be open.
History of the .BH Domain
The “BH” ISO 3166-1 code is designated for use to represent Bahrain.
History. The .BH domain was first delegated in 1994 to the University of Bahrain Computer Center. In 1999, the domain was redelegated to the Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco), which remains the sponsoring organization today.
In 2002, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority was established by Legislative Decree No. 48 and is responsible for regulating, licensing, and developing the telecommunications market in Bahrain.
In 2008, the Minister of Telecommunications of Bahrain issued Resolution No. 3, which assigned TRA as the government agency responsible for the management of the .BH top-level domain. It resolved that “An office shall be set up … to be affiliated to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. It shall undertake all the duties related to the registration of the domain names including the Kingdom of Bahrain’s domain name .BH”.
On 6 December 2011, the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority commenced a request to ICANN for redelegation of the “.BH” top-level domain.
IANA Reports. Report on the Redelegation of the .BH domain representing Bahrain to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. ICANN has received a request to redelegate the .BH domain, a country-code top-level domain representing Bahrain, to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. ICANN Staff has assessed the request and provided this report for the ICANN Board of Directors to consider.
- Proposed Sponsoring Organization and Contacts. The proposed sponsoring organization is the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Bahrain. The proposed administrative and technical contact is Mohammed Alnoaimi, Technical Affairs Specialist of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. The administrative contact is understood to be based in Bahrain.
- Evaluation Procedure. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is tasked with managing the Domain Name System root zone as part of a set of functions governed by a contract with the U.S. Government. This includes managing the delegations of top-level domains.
A subset of top-level domains is designated for the local Internet communities in countries to operate in a way that best suits their local needs. These are known as country-code top-level domains and are assigned by ICANN to responsible trustees (known as “Sponsoring Organisations”) who meet a number of public-interest criteria for eligibility. These criteria largely relate to the level of support the trustee has from their local Internet community, their capacity to ensure stable operation of the domain, and their applicability under any relevant local laws.
Through an ICANN department known as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), requests are received for delegating new country-code top-level domains, and redelegating or revoking existing country-code top-level domains. An investigation is performed on the circumstances pertinent to those requests, and, when appropriate, the requests are implemented. Decisions on whether to implement requests are made by the ICANN Board of Directors, taking into account ICANN’s core mission of ensuring the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s unique identifier systems.
Delegation Record for .BH Domain
(Country-code top-level domain)
- ccTLD Manager
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)
PO Box 10353
Manama
Bahrain
- Administrative Contact
Technical Affairs Supervisor
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)
PO Box 10353
Manama
Bahrain
Email: [email protected]
Voice: +973 17520000
Fax: +973 17532125
- Technical Contact
- CTO
CentralNic
Saddlers House 4th Floor 44 Gutter Lane
London EC2V 6BR
United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
Voice: +44 20 33 88 0600
Fax: +44 20 33 88 0601
Name Servers
| HOST NAME | IP ADDRESS(ES) |
| d.bh.centralnic-dns.com | 212.18.249.115 2a04:2b00:13ff:0:0:0:0:115 |
| c.bh.centralnic-dns.com | 212.18.248.115 2a04:2b00:13ee:0:0:0:0:115 |
| b.bh.centralnic-dns.com | 185.24.64.115 2a04:2b00:13cc:0:0:0:1:115 |
| a.bh.centralnic-dns.com | 194.169.218.115 2001:67c:13cc:0:0:0:1:115 |
The Global Relaunching of Bahrain ccTLD – .bh Domain
In a press release posted last October 18, the government of Bahrain has announced that it is relaunching its .bh and البحرين. ccTLDs with a simplified, automated, standardized registration process.
The domains will be available globally, the local Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said: “The new process of registration is fast, simple, and secure cutting the time of registration from days to minutes.”
Names will be “available for local and international customers”, the TRA said.
It looks like Bahrain has switched its back-end to CentralNic, and will be operating a standard EPP system.
While launch dates, registration rules, and participating registrars were not announced, the TRA did indicate that the launch would begin with a sunrise period for trademark owners sometime in the fourth quarter.
Bahrain is a small but wealthy island state in the Persian Gulf with about 1.5 million inhabitants. The number of current registrations in .bh is not known.
Complete details of the press release:
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the Kingdom of Bahrain launched its promotional campaign aimed at introducing the new domain name registration mechanisms for the Kingdom of Bahrain (.bh). It shows the importance and benefits of using the domain name for the Kingdom of Bahrain, and it also clarifies the upcoming stages that the authority will follow to make domain names available to organizations and to the public in an easy and accessible manner.
A domain name is defined as a name in English or Arabic characters that is chosen to be the title of the website and its affiliated services. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority manages and organizes domain name registration services for the Kingdom of Bahrain in both Arabic and English.
Domain names will be available for assignment with information technology companies, including telecom companies who are licensed by the authority and who wish to allocate domain names on behalf of the authority so that the assignment is available to local and international customers. This step comes to increase the number of its services provided via the Internet, which facilitates and speeds up the registration time from days to minutes. This process also enhances the digital position in key sectors such as tourism, culture, and economy.
In this regard, the Director of Cyber Security and Technical Affairs at the authority, Eng. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Nuaimi, said, “The authority has launched an advanced and globally approved electronic system for registering domain names, which will contribute to developing an important aspect of the future vision of the digital position on the public and private levels. Al Nuaimi also indicated that “Registering a domain name belonging to the Kingdom of Bahrain gives a Bahraini identity to local brands in particular or to individuals in general who are interested in the technology field, which distinguishes them from other website names in the Internet world. The registration of names will become accessible to everyone and is an easy way compared to the previous situation.
This campaign will also clarify the various options for registering domain names for websites, including global domain name registration sites, introducing the process of moving from one registrar to another in the event the domain name owner wants to move, and clarifying mechanisms for filing complaints and resolving disputes in the event of a dispute over the eligibility of use between the owners of the domain name. Domain names and other developments related to domain names for the Kingdom of Bahrain.
In addition to the domain name (.bh), the international top-level domain name in Arabic (.Bahrain) has been allocated to those wishing to use their website names in Arabic. Priority will be given to those who have a digital presence (.bh) and local affiliates (such as edu.bh), to reserve the equivalent in Arabic for a period of six months from the launch of the service, after which it will be made available to the public.
The authority would like to note that during the last quarter of 2021, the field will open for registration for trademark owners and commercial registries initially, followed by local authorities, institutions, and individuals, after which registration will be available to the public from outside the Kingdom of Bahrain as well.
