Maldives: Internet Hosting and Domain Market Insights

Maldives, in full Republic of Maldives, is an independent island country located in the north-central Indian Ocean. Being the smallest country in southern Asia in respect of land area (Maldives cover an area of 298 sq km), it is also the most widely dispersed country in the world consisting of almost 1,200 separate islands spread over a length of 820 km and a width of 130 km.

Maldives in Numbers

Maldives is generally considered to be a high-end and luxurious tourist destination that is characterised by beautiful blue oceans and amazing sandy beaches. It is not surprising, therefore, that with the population of about 500K people, the number of tourists is more than 1M per year.

When coming to Maldives, travellers can enjoy not only the natural beauty of the islands, but also technological advances, such as internet access. With Internet penetration on the islands being about 65%, it is, nevertheless, available even on the smallest islands. There are internet towers set up, there are hotspots, and mobile data; thus, people can enjoy internet access almost everywhere for a quite affordable price.

Language and Support

While local people tend to communicate in their native language — Dhivehi, most Maldivians have no problems with speaking English. Moreover, all matters and inquiries that are related to business and the world of entrepreneurship are mostly handled in English, i.e., language that everybody can understand.

Pricing, Payments, Problems

Needless to say that the most popular domain name in Maldives is .mv. Local people tend to use .mv to assure potential clients and customers that the services they provide and/or products that they sell are local. Accordingly, the price of the .mv domain in Maldives is about 54 rufiyaa/month, which equals €2,5/month. Compared to Sri Lanka, where 50GB of Internet cost ~€250, the price in Maldives is eye-pleasing — only ~€20.
Due to a number of restrictions, people in Maldives don’t really have the minds to go international or expand worldwide. For example, there’s a possibility in Maldives to send money, but not to receive anything from PayPal. People can pay for things or services, but money cannot come to their bank accounts. Of course, as mentioned by Aishath Ulya Musthaq, there is a possibility to make some international transfers through BML (Bank of Maldives), which is the main payment gateway in Maldives, but that’s quite pricey. For example, if a person wants to send some financial support to a friend in another country, it will cost that person more than the amount of money to be actually sent.

Website Builders in Maldives

Local entrepreneurs are struggling with promoting and marketing their businesses and have trouble letting the world know about their products or services. The reason for the following is that they don’t have websites where they could show the things or services they are offering. Why? Creating a website from scratch is very expensive and a basic consultation with a developer about website building cost about $150–200.
What is more, there are not so many professionals who know how to create a website; thus, business persons have nothing more to do than place information about their products or services on Facebook and/or Instagram, where the reach is very low. Accordingly, Aishath believes that website builders would be a perfect tool for satisfying the people’s needs, as they not only would save money, but also inform others about the thing they are offering.

Final Words

There is two sides to everything and the same can be said about Maldives. The country is being advertised as a paradise on earth, with white sandy beaches, beautiful white clouds and out-of-this-world luxury resorts that will definitely wallop your wallet. On the other hand, there is access to the internet even on the smallest islands for a really affordable price; when choosing between on-premises or cloud, people prefer to have data physically; and the introduction of a website builder would become a perfect tool for satisfying locals' needs. All in all, there's one thing for sure — Maldives is a country worth visiting!