The Dot ML (.ml) free domain is now launched and available in Malaysia.
L-R: Jeremie Godreche (COO), Hawa Diakite (AGETIC), Joost Zuurbier (CEO)Dot ML can be registered in seconds, without any paperwork or restrictions and includes free usage and renewal, minus the hassle associated with the usual registration process. It is also free from advertising.
“The benefits are obvious,” said Joost Zuurbier, CEO of Dot ML. “Dot ML is fully localised and represents the Malaysian domain. It is a clear and simple web address which the public can easily remember. This is a real advantage for both customer and website owner.”
The CEO said there are 350,000 .ml registered domains worldwide and increasing on a daily basis. 99% of the domains are free while there rest are premium domains that comes at a price.
Dot ML said that its revenue comes from:
- Premium Domains- These are mostly short domains (one, two or three character domains), popular names or common dictionary words. Paid domain customers have full ownership of their domain name and have no usage restrictions. These domains are priced from RM30/year up to thousands.
- Website Builder service- Dot ML said that it will soon launched this feature as a premium service. There are also other services being planned such as hosting packages, SSL certificates and others.
- Expired Domains- When the domain is cancelled or expired, Internet traffic to the domain will be served with advertisements.
The company said that many industry experts agree that the systems of other local domain registries in Malaysia are very bureaucratic and slow. With 8 different types of .MY available and the complicated process of registering these domains, companies have found them tedious and time consuming to obtain.
“Because of the difficulty, a large number of Malaysian SMEs and individuals don’t have a desired domain that reflects well on their business. For example, a lot of businesses are still using hotmail or yahoo accounts for communication. Dot ML provides a quality and accessible internet identity for Malaysia as the country continues to establish itself as a major force on the world stage,” said Jeremie Godreche, COO of Dot ML.
Dot ML is a privately funded joint venture between Freenom – a Dutch corporation and AGETIC, a governmental organisation responsible for infrastructure and communication in Mali. Dot ML has offices in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Bamako (Mali) and Amsterdam (Netherlands). With its management team, experienced staff and multi-redundant backbones in all countries, Dot ML claims that it can handle millions of registrations.
Launched 2 years ago, Dot ML – the Mali domain name is expected to be well received by Malaysia’s 20 million online user community and SME organisations, according to the company.
Jeremie Godreche revealed that $5 million have been spent so far for the domain services. In early 2014, Freenom closed a $3 million Series A funding round led by Kima Ventures, one of the world’s most active angel-investment companies, funded by Xavier Niel.
In Malaysia, Freenom said that it has partnered with AIMS Data Centre to deploy its Anycast servers and has applied for membership at the Malaysia Internet Exchange Point (MyIX). The company also maintains Anycast servers in 15 regions worldwide: from Germany and the United Kingdom to the United States and China. With this multi-tier multi-redundant infrastructure millions of registrations can be handled and uptime can be guaranteed. System administration takes place from its headquarters in Amsterdam to monitor the server infrastructure on a 24×7 basis. This ensures availability of all Dot ML domains, the company said.
The .ml domains can be registered at www.dot.ml. New domains can be immediately used once registered.
Freenom also operates the .tk domain which is currently the largest country code top level domain (ccTLD) registry in the world. Dot TK is the largest top level domain (TLD) after .com.