We all already know IDN domain names (names which can contain special characters) like for instance .com or .lu domain names. But for now on, also 3 IDN ccTLD’s (extensions) are available. We’re talking about the following extensions:
– Egypt: مصر
– Saudi Arabia: السعودية
– United Arab Emirates: امارات
ICANN gave those 3 countries the permission to register their domain names under these IDN extensions. At the moment, those are the only 3 countries which may use an IDN extension. Normally China, Russia and Thailand will follow.
Although it is already possible to pre-register domain names under the Russian РФ extension, this extension hasn’t been added to the rootserver by ICANN. The extensions mentioned above are added.