Africa is making strides to get the .africa domain up and running by 2013, say Internet industry bodies across the continent.
African Registry Consortium (ARC), one of the groups hoping to administer the domain, says regions like Asia and Europe are already making use of similar domain names.
However, the continent is awaiting the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to have its final say on who will administer .africa.
ICANN recently voted to approve the new generic top-level domain (gTLD)programme that will see companies, organisations, and communities create their own unique top-level domain extensions on the Internet. It will be possible for entities to apply for .brand, .community, .industry or .region extensions in the new Internet dispensation.
The .africa domain is one of the proposed new gTLDs. Besides ARC, DotConnectAfrica, based in Mauritius, is another organisation seeking to operate the .africa domain.
Mike Silber, head: legal and commercial for telco Liquid Telecom, and an ICANN Board member, says an .africa domain will allow for the creation of an online African identity not restricted to a single country or country code.
“This will allow pan-African businesses, as well as local businesses, communities and individuals to create or enhance their online identity while promoting their African identity,” he says.
In terms of challenges, says Silber, the new gTLD programme calls for very high technical standards as well as providing additional protections for intellectual property rights holders, which must be put in place by prospective registries.
ARC spokesman and founding member, Koffi Fabrice Djossou, concurs that .africa presents an ideal opportunity to highlight African know-how and expertise. “This new domain will give the continent a truly African identity for the first time and will allow companies and organisations operating here to proudly highlight their African operations and identity.”
DotConnectAfrica says the .africa campaign has been the strongest statement yet of Africa's determination to add its name to the domain name system root, thus giving one billion people an online identity.
A little further down the line, says Djossou, the domain will begin appearing in other languages, such as French and Arabic.
However, Silber notes that right now there is some dispute as to the correct entity to operate such a domain. “It is a pity that some individuals are allowing personal issues to get in the way of a project that could benefit a larger community.
“At the end of the day, the rules under the new gTLD programme for the application for a regional identifier such as .africa are rather strict and specific and I have no doubt sanity will prevail and an application will be submitted when the application phase opens in the first quarter of 2012.”
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