Microsoft owns Bi.ng – the Nigerian domain hack.
According to data coming from the Nigeria Communication Week, corporations in Nigeria don’t use their .NG domains, if they own the .com already.
Despite efforts by the local authorities to promote .NG domains by corporations and businesses, the cost of changing from an existing TLD such as dot .com prohibits quick adoption of the ccTLD.
Companies take into account the overall rebranding cost, such as changing company letterhead, branded documents and business cards, before considering the move to .NG.
Even those that register .NG domains do so as a URL forwarder to their existing domain name, typically ending in .com.
Another reason .NG domains aren’t quite adopted yet, is that the Nigerian domain Registry, NiRA, keeps roughly 30,000 premium domains “stamped” with a Naira 50,000 ($300 USD) fee, while regular prices are at Naira 15,000 ($92 USD).
This approach might also hinder the adoption of gTLD domains by the general public, if the Registries keep them at artificially inflated premium prices.
