DOT Africa / A specific internet namespace for Africa

ABUJA, August 6, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ --

The extraordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Conference of Ministers in charge of
Communication and Information Technologies (CITMC) held in Johannesburg in 2009,
acknowledged the benefit of the Generic Top-Level Domains (GTLds) and work together to
promote the use of Country Code Top Level Domains (CCTLDs) as they are a critical national
resource whilst ensuring that the technical and administrative operations are at
international standards to foster trust and use of African Domain Names in order to
bring financial, economic and social cultural benefits to Africa.

With a population of one billion, Africa hosts 86 millions of Internet users. The penetration rate
is 8.7% which is rather good compared to the world average of 26.9%.

DotAfrica is that specific Internet namespace for Africa which is likely to be applied for
operation during the next round of new Generic Top-Level Domains (GTLds) which the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will be launching in the near
future.

The introduction of the DotAfrica will create an attractive regional home for the Pan-African
Internet community; as the first sponsored registry to be operating from Africa and therefore
serving the specific needs of its communities. It will echo ongoing operation and successes of
other sister community TLDs such as DotEu (DotEuropa) and DotAsia which have created a new
Internet identity for their users and business who seek more regional presence without being
confined within the limits of one country.

The Domain name DotAfrica is to contribute to the development of Internet on the African
continent and proposes to re-invest back proceeds into the social and technological
advancement initiatives within the community. A revenue allocation structure will be adopted by
the DotAfrica registry to guarantee that a portion of revenues will be directly re-invested into
the community through a grant program.

DotAfrica will be adding value to the namespace as a recognizable phrase which focuses on the
Africa identity. It is likely to capture the essence of the community served. Indeed, DotAfrica
will serve a community which spans over a large portion of region, therefore providing
registrants with accrued possibilities for establishing their Internet presence.

The project has been presented to the Experts session of the CITMC-3 which started in Abuja,
Nigeria, on 3 August 2010. The ministerial session, scheduled to take place from 6 to 7
August is expected to mandate the African Union to implement the Dot Africa on
behalf of the Member States in cooperation and partnerships with relevant
stakeholders and institutions, including the preparation and the submission of the
DotAfrica application to ICANN.

Source: African Union Commission (AUC)