The good news for the African Internet community is that the continent is on track to get its own Regional Internet Registry (RIR), but this will mean higher input costs for southern African Internet service providers (ISPs).
This comes after the AfriNIC (African Network Information Centre) board elections in Senegal this week, where members approved the transition plan that will see AfriNIC take charge of the Internet number resources for the African continent.
"Currently these Internet resources are handled by ARIN - the North American RIR - for southern African countries. North African countries currently get their Internet numbers from the European equivalent called RIPE NCC," says AfriNIC board member Alan Levin.
"A contentious resolution adopted by the new board was to accept the more expensive European price structure. ARIN`s pricing for very small ISPs stands at $1 500 (R9 900) for registration plus an annual maintenance fee of $100 (R6 500) for a range of IP addresses. The AfriNIC equivalent is about $2 500 and $100 respectively. This means that southern African ISPs will face higher input costs from early 2005," Levin says.
Thirty AfriNIC members participated in the board voting process, although only seven had paid their full membership fees. The candidates elected represent each of the six AfriNIC regions: north, south, east, west, central and Indian Ocean. AfriNIC`s president elect is Pierre Danjinou from Benin.
According to the AfriNIC Web site, the organisation is incorporated in Mauritius, with its administration centre based on the island, the operational centre at the CSIR complex in Pretoria, training and operational support is based in Accra, Ghana, and the mirroring and disaster recovery site is in Egypt.
In terms of AfriNIC`s transition plan, the organisation has passed seven of the nine steps it needs to take before becoming fully operational. These steps have culminated in the legal and financial transitions.
The penultimate step of beginning operations is scheduled to begin on 1 July and on 16 July the final step of applying to the world`s top-level domain name registrar ICANN for formal recognition. This recognition should be granted at the ICANN meeting in Cape Town scheduled for 1 to 5 December.
"It is unfortunate about the price increases that southern African ISPs will face. However, at last Africa will get its own RIR that understands local conditions, offers local service and accepts local currency," says Levin.
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