PM launches dot bangla domain

The long-awaited dot bangla (.বাংলা) IDN has been officially launched by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, allowing web users to create websites with Bangla web addresses.

Users can begin making and using dot bangla sites from Sunday, said state-owned telecommunications company BRTC’s Director (PR and Marketing) Mir Md Morshed.

The prime minister launched the dot bangla domains at the Ganabhaban on Saturday, three months after the final clearance by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

She expressed her hope that the new domain would lead to an increase in ICT business.

“Those who criticised the announcement of a digital Bangladesh will now be able to use dot bangla domains,” she said.

Previously the ICANN domain codes for Bangladesh had been dot bd (.bd). Dot bangla was added on Oct 5.

These labels serve as recognition of a state's websites, for example - dot UK or .uk websites belong to the United Kingdom.

Now dot bangla is Bangladesh's own Unicode domain label.

It is the second country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Bangla websites.

The Indian state of West Bengal and Sierra Leone (one of whose official languages is Bangla) will also receive the new IDN label.

The Posts and Telecommunications Division said Bangladesh Telecommunications Limited (BTCL) will be the technical contact point for the .bangla domain label.

Users can enter the BTCL website (www.btcl.com.bd) by typing 'বিটিসিএল.বাংলা' in Bangla fonts in their browser's address bar.