.qa

.qa is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for State of Qatar.

.qa

Introduced	12 June 1996
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	Qatar Domains Registry
Sponsor	Communications Regulatory Authority
Intended use	Entities connected with Qatar
Actual use	Fairly popular in Qatar
Registered domains	21,612 (July 2019)
Registration restrictions	Registration must occur through an accredited registrar
Structure	Country code top-level domain and second-level domains are available
Dispute policies	Complaints
Registry website	www.domains.qa/en

History

As of September 2011, members of the general public can register Qatar Internet domain names (.qa) that are available through accredited registrars. Prior to the making the .QA domain available to the public, QDR held a “sunrise” period for the domains which enabled trademark holders and government entities to register for the Qatar-specific domain names.

As of 2014, thirteen registrars have been accredited by Qatar Domains Registry to offer the domain names. These registrars are Qtel, W3infotech, IP Mirror, Ascio, MarkMonitor, Marcaria, EPAG Domainservices, Safenames, Thexyz, CPS-Datensysteme, DomainMonster, and InternetX.

Qatar Domains Registry, regulated by the Communications Regulatory Authority, manages Qatar's country code top-level domains (ccTLD), which includes domains which are offered through accredited registrars and other closed domains related to Qatari institutions which means you must register your domain name directly from the Qatar Domains Registry. Qatar is among the first countries in the world to be able to offer domain names in Arabic, قطر. domain represents Qatar's Arabic language online identity.

Qatar domains available through approved registrars are: .qa, .com.qa, .net.qa, .name.qa and Arabic قطر. the latter of which is represented as .xn--wgbl6a in Punycode.

The domains that are registered directly from the Qatar Domains Registry are : .gov.qa, .mil.qa, .org.qa, .edu.qa and .sch.qa.

Second-level domains

• .com.qa – Commercial organisations; registered trademarks.
• .edu.qa – Licensed Higher educational organisations in Qatar.
• .sch.qa – Licensed private and public schools in Qatar.
• .gov.qa – Governmental organisations.
• .mil.qa – Ministry of State for Defense Affairs and Qatar Armed Forces.
• .net.qa – Licensed networks of data communications.
• .org.qa – Nonprofit organisations.

External links

• IANA .qa whois information
• Qatar Internet Domain Names
• Qatar Domains Registry Archived 2011-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
• For the IDN version of the website. Archived 2014-08-26 at the Wayback Machine