FINAL VERSION TO BE SUBMITTED IF RATIFIED
The final version to be submitted, if the draft is ratified, will be placed here by upon completion of the vote.
FINAL DRAFT VERSION TO BE VOTED UPON BY THE ALAC
The final draft version to be voted upon by the ALAC will be placed here before the vote is to begin.
The ALAC welcome the AFRICAN DNS study under ICANN strategy for Africa. It is key to understand the domain name industry issues in the region.
The results of the study are as expected. The domain name industry in Africa is influenced by a set of interdependent factors: The infrastructure, the prices, the management model (2R or 3R), the policies, and the digital awareness. Notably, the report indicates that 37 million USD revenue is generated from ccTLDs which then reaches over 51 million USD if gTLDs are included. What has been observed to be the norm is that people tend to acquire or register more gTLDs than ccTLDs. Even though that trend is changing, one should not expect a dramatic change as indicated in this report. We see the trend that ccTLDs becoming preferred TLDs for registration a good development and would suggest that the factors that caused this change be noted and improved upon.
The ALAC support the establishment of a DNS observatory to track changes in the use of DNS in Africa and to follow its evolution. Raising awareness is key to the DNS market evolution. Academics and governments should understand the specificities of raising the region awareness.
The report gives many inputs that should be translated into an action plan, relying on the potentials and key actors in the region. The action plan should be carried out in the collaboration with ICANN, ALAC/AFRALO outreach programme, AFRINIC, AFTLD, registries and registrars, the African Association of Universities (AAU), and so on. The action plan would benefit from exchange programmes that facilitate expertise exchange between countries.
Last, the ALAC note that on this published report, the footer of every page contains the phrase “Africa Domain Name System (DNS) Market Study Draft Report, 12th January 2017, SACF.” Based on the title of the report, this version was last updated on 10 March 2017. The footer text should be updated accordingly.
FIRST DRAFT SUBMITTED
The first draft submitted will be placed here before the call for comments begins.
The ALAC welcomes the AFRICAN DNS study under ICANN strategy for AFRICA which is key to understand the domain name industry issues in the region
The results of the study are quite expected, domain name industry in AFRICA is a set of interdependent factors: The infrastructure, the prices, the management model (2R or 3R), policies and digital awareness with sufficient literacy.
The ALAC support the setting up of a DNS observatory to track changes in the use of DNS in AFRICA and follow its evolution.
However, raising awareness is key to the DNS market evolution and seen the specificities of the region awareness should be made at the academic and governmental level.
The report gives many inputs that should be translated by an action plan relying on the potential and key actors in the region in the collaboration with ICANN (ALAC outreach programme, AFRINIC, AFTLD, registries and registrars, the African union of universities….) and exchange programmes (expertise exchange between countries).
