UGO, which stands for Uganda Goes Online, has been has been at the forefront of what they refer to as “the internet revolution” in Uganda. But the cost of local domains was deemed to be a disincentive to local domain name purchases.
“When we launched last year, reducing the price of local domain names was high on our agenda. This is a significant achievement for us,” said UGO Founder and Director, Boaz Shani.
.UG domains have, for a long time, been priced at $34.5 per year by Computer frontiers, compared to $10 for similar international domains including .com, .net, e.t.c
When the deal is signed, domain registrations through selected registrars, starting with UGO, will be priced at as low as $15 per year.
“We are going to be working with selected companies in what will be a pilot programme for about six months,” Computer Frontier CEO Charles Musisi told PC Tech Magazine.
“We hope this will be the standard domain name price after the pilot,” he explained.
The agreement is set to be reached in “the next few days” as officials as CFI iron out the details of the deal. When passed, Uganda will have one of the cheapest ccTLDs in Africa. In some countries, including Nigeria and Ghana, organizations wishing to register domain names must have a local partner.
Rwanda’s .RW domain is currently one of the most expensive, with some registrars charging over $280 per year.
