Internet Week will take place between 16 and 19 September and will focus on current policy issues, such as the legalities of wireless Internet access, the impact of interception legislation on the industry and the proposed Convergence Bill.
Internet Week will involve a series of presentations, workshops and social events and will be hosted by the Internet Service Provider`s Association (ISPA), in partnership with the Department of Communications (DoC), UniForum SA (the registrars for .co.za) and the South African Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-ZA).
Among the presentations that will appear on the agenda and are considered vital to the country`s growth are broadband multimedia for all, NEPAD issues and transformation in the Internet industry.
"We expect to have quite a large focus on WiFi issues, and the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has told us it hopes to have something to announce in regard to this, as Internet Week comes on the heels of a meeting ICASA is having on the subject," says Ant Brooks, co-chairman of ISPA.
"Sentech, which recently launched its new broadband offering, is also expected to attend and we are hoping there will be some interesting snippets from that organisation in regard to the WiFi situation."
He says that there will also be reviews of policy, the DoC will present its views on convergence and - to add some international flavour to the proceedings - there will be a discussion on IP registry issues.
"Internet Week should be really exciting for industry players, as we have Telkom speaking for the first time, discussing how it will face up to competition, and then also Transtel and Esi-Tel, who will be looking at things from the competition`s point of view," he says.
"We are expecting a very diverse audience and in keeping with the traditional spirit of the Internet community, we are keeping the entire week free of charge for attendees."
According to the programme, there will also be a full afternoon session by AfriNIC, the body responsible for allocating IP addresses in Africa, a workshop on implementing regional peering in Africa, a discussion on the implementation of the first Root Server in Africa and a chance to meet the members of the Domain Name Authority Board.
Internationally renowned speakers such as Andrew McLaughlin of the Berkman Centre, Harvard University Law School, ICANN, Bill Woodcock of Packet Clearing House and Brian Longwe of AfrISPA will feature in the programme.
AfrISPA, an umbrella body for African ISP associations will be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 18 September and delegates will attend from countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius, Ghana and Uganda, as well as the SADC region.
Other AGMs taking place at Internet Week include Namespace ZA, the organisation currently responsible for the administration of the .ZA domain, also on 18 September and ISPA, which will be the final event of the week, on 19 September.
Most of the sessions, with the exception of certain AGMs, workshops and the suppers are open to interested members of the public and attendance is free.
The online sign up form is available at http://iweek.ispa.org.za/ and the full programme can be viewed at http://www.ispa.org.za/iweek. Internet Week will be held at the Pharmaceutical Society conference centre in Lower Houghton, Johannesburg.
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