The fifth Africa Domain Names System Forum (DNS) Forum has commenced today, taking place until the 28th July 2017 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The forum provides a platform for the exchange of ideas, best practices and technical expertise in order to grow the African domain name industry together with the number of Internet users.
This follows on the success of previous fora that have taken place in Africa over the past few years – namely; South Africa-2013, Nigeria-2014, Kenya-2015 and Morocco-2016.
Organized by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Internet Society (ISOC) and Africa Top Level Domains Organization (AFTLD), this year’s Forum is hosted by the Tanzania Network Information Centre (tzNIC).
“Most African countries have managed their Country Code- Top Level Domain locally so far. However, significant improvements have been made through the support of regional and global organizations. African Registries are now receiving not only local, but also global support in technical matters as well as problems in marketing and governance issues. With these collaborations, the competition in African domain business is growing.” Abibu Rashid Ntahigiye, CEO of .tz Registry (tzNIC) and host for the event stated
Pierre Dandjinou (ICANN), Michuki Mwangi (ISOC), Ali Hadji Mmadi (AfTLD) and Abibu Rashid Ntahigiye (tzNIC) who spoke at the opening ceremony of the event said the event would focus on various topics from regional domain name industry to Internet security.
“Africa is rising with respect to its digital potential and it must make its influence felt at the global Internet governance table to protect its interests” said Pierre Dandjinou, VP of Global Stakeholder Engagement in Africa at ICANN.
“With this in mind, ICANN is committed to providing equal opportunity to inform the region’s different communities about the domain industry and engaging with them on how best to not only strengthen Africa’s online presence, but also improve their participation within ICANN.”
According to the African Region Bureau of Internet Society, with less than 2 million domain names currently registered by registries in Africa, there is clear potential for growth in this industry. As Internet access expands throughout the region, there will be a demand for more services online which can contribute to the growth of the Domain Name System industry.
Legal issues affecting African registries, registrars and re-sellers
Legal issues affecting African registries, registrars and re-sellers has been a long time problem among in Africa. Correction on that has been caused by derailment by different government arms in the party countries. However, the community still strives to ease domain registration and re-sales.
One of the key topics of the Forum is the recently released Africa Domain Name Servers Market Report, the first of its kind in the region, which provides a detailed analysis of the Domain Name Servers market for 54 countries. Among other topics to be discussed are:
- Legal issues affecting African registries, registrars and resellers
- Securing the African Domain Name System
- IPv6 and the role of African registries and registrars
- Emerging trends in the Domain Name System
Participants from ICANN, other Internet organizations, registries, registrars, registrants, country code Top Level Domain (ccTLDs), new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) applicants, policy makers, Internet service providers, IT businesses, brand owners and legal firms, academics and civil society are attending the event to share experiences and best practices.