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Bahrain and other Arab countries should consider pushing for more domain name systems (DNS) in Arabic to cater to people in the region, experts said during a major forum.
Speaking during the Middle East DNS Forum 2025, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) senior director Sarmad Hussain said more Arabs than ever were now using the Internet and hence it should be accessible to them, irrespective of the language they speak.
The two-day event was organised by ICANN in co-operation with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) at the Wyndham Grand Manama.
Mr Hussain moderated a panel session titled ‘How to Register and Host an Arabic Domain Name and Email Address’ alongside CloudME director Ali Al Toblani, ICANN stakeholder engagement director Fahd Batayneh, American University of Bahrain assistant professor Fatema Akbar and AEserver founder and chief executive Munir Badr.
“Arabic domain names aim to enhance digital inclusion, preserve cultural heritage and foster economic growth by supporting the Arabic language online,” said Mr Hussain.
“There are hundreds of millions of Internet users in the Arab world, with Egypt alone estimated to have more than 70m.
“It is estimated that around 79 per cent of social media users in the region prefer to use the platforms in Arabic, alongside 63pc of online shoppers, 70pc of online bank users, 46pc of e-learners and 41pc of gamers.
“Additionally, around 54pc of users prefer to type and receive emails in Arabic, and in general, 61pc prefer to browse the Internet in their mother-tongue as well.”
A DNS is a hierarchical and distributed name service that provides a naming system for computers, services and other resources on the Internet or other Internet Protocol networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned to entities.
Bahrain has a number of DNS registered from Amazon, Batelco, and other companies, with ‘.bh’ being the most commonly used Arabic one, which can also be accessed by typing ‘Al Bahrain’ in Arabic.
Mr Hussain noted that domain and email addresses in Arabic were still very rare, with only 0.5pc of DNS on the Internet actually utilising the language.
“It is mainly down to the fact that there are no success stories, making people hesitant to use them,” he said.
“Additionally, webpages that use Arabic domain names and emails are technically more complex to manage.
“Domains are not easy to register due to low availability and high cost of registration and maintenance.
“Despite that, Bahrain and other Arab countries should look to invest in more Arabic domains, because it helps support local brands and communicates to customers and users with low literacy in English.
“We want to push more Arabic content online because it is our culture and our heritage.”
Mr Hussain made some recommendations on how to increase supply of Arabic domain names in Bahrain and the region, stating that an organisation, whether public or private, will have to step up and take a leadership role.
He said those in charge need to build a relevant infrastructure to support Arabic domain and emails, conduct training and workshops for developers, and provide incentives for businesses in Bahrain to use domain names and emails in Arabic.
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