The regional council members of the African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) will attend the African ISP Forum at this year`s annual African Computing and Telecommunications Summit (ACT 2001). The summit, with the theme "Human networking to connect Africa" is being held at St George Hotel, Pretoria, from 30 July to 3 August.
"AITEC is delighted to have the AfriNIC Council members present at the African ISP Forum. In addition, they are going to hold a council meeting following ACT," said Sean Moroney, group chairman of AITEC.
AfriNIC is responsible for regulating Africa`s Internet domain names. The success of the AfriNIC relies on getting broad reach support from the ISP community at large.
Richard Bell, council member for East Africa, sees the event as a valuable platform to promote effective management of the Internet in Africa:
"For AfriNIC to take on the mantle that RIPE and ARIN currently fulfil on behalf of Africa, it will require the support of the Internet and ISP community across the whole of Africa. The Board Of Trustees of AfriNIC is very much aware of the need for such consensus. We will therefore be using ACT as an opportunity to 'reach out` to the community at large, to explain, where AfriNIC has reached so far, what issues were discussed and resolved at this year`s AfriNIC meeting in Accra, and provide specifics of what actions the board have planned to carry out over the coming 12 months."
Peter van Roste, the president of EuroISPA, will also attend the ISP Forum on behalf of the newly formed ISP association for Europe, in order to share the experience for Europe`s ISPs in developing their market.
The forum is intended to empower ISPs with the knowledge they need to develop a better understanding of these issues and the options open to them -- both strategically and technically. The forum is supported by the ISP Association of South Africa and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, with scholarship funds for ISPs provided by the British and French governments.
The programme will cover the following topics:
- Internet Development in Africa: How competition and co-operation are both necessary to bring Africa into the Information Age.
- ISP Liability
- South African concerns
- The CyberCrime Treaty and world trends
- Should ISPs in Africa deal with this?
- Dealing with incumbent Telcos -- Forming an ISP Association
- The South African and the Kenyan experiences
- Internet Exchanges -- the South African and Kenyan experiences --International Co-operation --AfriNIC
For more information on the ACT Summit, please visit our site at www.aitecafrica.com.
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