Business & Money | Monday 22 June, 2015 5:03 am |

Bayt.com, the largest career platform in the Middle East and North Africa, today announced the launch of a new web presence for the company under شبكة. as part of its efforts to expand its reach with Arabic speaking customers online.

Bayt.com’s new domain name – بيت.شبكة – complements the company’s ambition to empower the Arabic-speaking workforce and encourage greater online participation.

شبكة. (.web in Arabic and pronounced “dot shabaka”) is the world's first Arabic cross-border Top-Level Domain and provides Arabic-speaking Internet users with an alternative to non-Arabic Internet namespaces such as .com, .net and .org.

It’s part of a revolutionary program being rolled out by the global regulator of web addresses to introduce greater domain name choice and availability online.

The launch of Bayt.com’s new شبكة. domain name means Arabic-speakers around the world can now, for the first time, navigate to Bayt.com’s website entirely in Arabic simply by typing بيت.شبكة into their browser’s address bar.

Akram Assaf, CTO, Bayt.com, welcomed the announcement.

“Bayt.com is connected with over 40,000 employers and 20.5 million registered members across the MENA region,” Assaf said. “Our mission at Bayt.com is to empower people with the tools and technologies to build their lifestyle of choice, and our new شبكة. domain name will make our tools accessible to even more people in the Arab world. As a company, we are proud to be at the forefront of technological innovation and we are proud to be a company from the Middle East.”

Mr Assaf said Bayt.com has adopted شبكة. domain names for its other leading brands in the region as well, including the hugely popular YallaMotor.com (يلاموتور.شبكة) and Doctoruna.com (دكتورنا.شبكة).

“Our new شبكة. domain names will make it easier for our customers and users to navigate to our websites. The new domains complement our Arabic branding and will help reduce the number of users who experience problems typing our English names into their browsers,” Assaf continued.

Mohammad Zeidan, General Manager of dotShabaka Registry, congratulated Bayt.com on launching their شبكة. domain names.

“Bayt.com have embraced the Arabic web because they understand the importance of speaking to their audience in their native language. We’re incredibly proud to have their support for شبكة.,” Mr Zeidan said.

“To be a proud Arabic brand, we believe the first line of communication to your audience needs to be in Arabic and there is no better way to do this online than to base your entire online presence under a شبكة. domain name.

“Bayt.com’s brands are widely recognised as market leaders in their sectors, and their endorsement of شبكة. is a significant achievement given their size and reputation throughout MENA.

“You build trust with customers when speaking in a native language and we know that a call to action in English to an Arabic audience is a call to inaction. Savvy brands like Bayt.com recognise this and that’s why they have warmly embraced شبكة.”.

Mr Zeidan said some of the other biggest brands in the world have joined Bayt.com to secure their شبكة. domain names, including the likes of Etisalat, Al Jazeera, Google, Montblanc and Rolex.