A one stop shop for African ccTLDs?

Late last week, I received an email from someone interested in partnering with a registrar who could offer domain registrations for multiple African ccTLDs like .ke .za .ng .zw in one place and I realized that there aren't many players in Africa with that kind of coverage.

To begin with, many African domain  registrars/ISPs will offer domain registrations for their country's ccTLD, several popular gTLDs like .com, .net, .org, .info and some of the popular rebranded ccTLDs like .me .tv .ws. .fm .am It's hard to buy gTLDs like .travel .coop .pro from an African domain reseller/registrar. I think this can be attributed to the fact that many African registrars are actually domain resellers of other global players that are ICANN Accredited. As a result, they can only resell what's available with their suppliers(ICANN Accredited registrars). This lack of flexibility naturally inhibits their capability to offer consumers a wider roster of domain names. Besides, the cost of getting accredited across multiple ccTLDs in Africa is too high for an African ISP.


A good opportunity is in offering local presence services, but for registrants still costly
Since many African ccTLD registries are closed, many registrars offer a local presence service to register domains on behalf of their international clientele and hold it in trust. The local presence service providers will be the administrative, technical and billing contact. In some cases, firms can also contract a law firm to provide this kind of service. So you can imagine the difficulty and cost in setting up such local presence in 20 or more African countries in order to reserve the various ccTLD domains and at the same time put them under a single management!

It's fairly easy to get accredited in countries like Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Malawi if you have the resources, but lack of resources is a factor which I think might have hindered many African registrars with Pan African dreams. Many of the registrars that now offer a "one stop" shop for African ccTLDs are mostly companies that are not African and the domains are very costly amongst those retailers. I think a way forward would be for African registrars to build cross border partnerships with each other and cross sell domains across various registrars' platforms. This way, African registrars can dominate the ccTLD marketplace by offering registrants variety and competitive pricing thereby not losing out to international registrars who are now encroaching onto their territory after reducing them to "mere" domain resellers in the gTLD marketplace.

Some registrars retailing African ccTLD Domains:
101Domain: Offers Domain Registration for all the countries and territories of Africa except South Sudan(yet to be launched). Costly
Marcaria: Offers up to 40 African ccTLDs. Costly.
Africa Registry: Offers up to 16 African ccTLDs. Quite costly
Instra Corporation: Offers Domain Registration for 13 popular African ccTLDs. Costly.
Lexsynergy: Offers local presence service across multiple African ccTLDs
OpenSRS:Offers up to 8 African ccTLDs now sold via its giant reseller network.

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Could there be .city newgTLD Applications from Africa?

The new gTLD applications open tomorrow, Thursday at 00.01 UTC and many cities or organizations applying on behalf of cities have already indicated their intention to turn their names into virtual real estates. There will be a .paris(dotParis) for Paris , .berlin(dotBerlin) for Berlin, .nyc(botNYC) for New York, .istanbul(dotIstanbul) for Istanbul, .london(dotLondon) plus more.

I wonder how many African cities or organizations applying on their behalf will be submitting applications to ICANN for a .africancity new gTLD. As far as I know, the entire newgTLD debate on the continent has revolved around .africa which is rather sad as people are walking away from other viable TLD oppotunities to focus on just one newTLD!

Cities like Nairobi, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos, Abuja, Dakar, Addis could apply for new gTLDs; am not sure if there will be a big market at this time but there's good potential for a domain market in the future.Besides the cities could freely use the gTLD to brand their services such as green.nairobi taxes.nairobi schools.nairobi museums.nairobi art.nairobi tours.cape travel.cape ski.cape and so on while they wait for the market to come of age.

.city applications for new gTLD do not qualify for ICANN Applicant Support, so the cities will have to fork out the full $185,000...and justify it to the residents. Especially if the sewers are still open and there are long queues in the clinics.

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Why aren't African Universities buying .xxx domain names?

I loved the low key marketing that ICMRegistry did in the run up to the approval of .XXX by ICANN in Singapore. The registry avoided any ads related to the porn industry, the constant message that was being drummed home was "Let's be adult about it";  there were no risque ads or King Gavin Life is Short ads. Am sure .XXX ads will get more risque as registrars continue competing fiercely for .XXX pie. Irish Registrar Blcknight has had the boldest .xxx marketing yet amongst the domain registrars but the ads are relatively safe for consumption.

I have also noted the message that's being fed to users regarding .XXX domains is not about buying .XXX on its own merit but buying .XXX to void  falling victim to .XXX. It's rather ironic that .XXX's most enthusiastic customers are those entities and institutions that were more like to oppose the new TLD; they are the entities that fear the most falling victims of .xxx and one key demographic has been the universities. Universities are buying .XXX domain names like hot cakes. ICM Registry's domain names are selling based on a "fear factor". It goes something like "Protect your identity before someone else squats on them with porn material" and this has created a rush for .XXX by institutions keen on upholding their integrity. Many who opposed .XXX now find that .XXX is indispensable, if only to keep off some miscreants from using your domains to display pornography.

The cyberspace's red light district is quickly taking shape, but clearly not all registrants are interested in the content's of the .xxx namespace. On the other hand, it seems the usually prolific adult industry content developers have put up almost 100,000 pages of .XXX material on our web after the launch of the new TLD. Because of the amount of money involved, this industry normally has very dedicated players so expect this to jump to a million pages very very soon.

One group that's clearly unfazed(or unaware) by the .XXX domains are the African Universities and colleges. I have just run through 20 URLs of Africa's most popular universities/top ranked universities and none of them has registered a .XXX. Clearly, this is a worrying trend given the proliferation of porn material in Africa of late (a Kenyan University recently posted a sex tape online featuring students from a rival university having sex. )

This is more due to the fact that in Africa, domains are still not much valued or appreciated. Like I reported in  previous post, many entities in Africa will register a popular version of their names in one TLD say .com and leave all the other TLDs behind for cybersquatters to exploit. It's a worrying lack of awareness and that's why I even proposed that domain portfolio management services should now exploit this market and help companies and entities understand the value of domains.

Finally, I cannot get over the fact that the US hijacked .gov and .edu for the exclusive use of American institutions. I think amongst the new gTLD applications, someone, maybe the UN, should apply for generic strings that can be used by government agencies and educational institutions worldwide, many of which are now limited to their ccTLDs. But which generic word cn be used to describe all educational institutions in the world? I can't think of any.

In other news, .XXX is still resolving in Kenya. So the "block" was all hot air.

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DCA opposes inclusion of “.africa” (DotAfrica) gTLD strings in list of reserved names

The DotConnectAfrica (DCA), one of the orgnisations that have expressed interest to implement and manage “.africa” gTLD, has opposed plans to include “DotAfrica,” “DotAfrique” and “DotAfriqiya” top level internet doamins in the List of Reserved Names, a move that would make the strings unvailable during the ICANN’s new gTLD application process in February 2012.

In a commentary posted on the DCA website in reaction to an article published in ComputerWorld Kenya, DCA states that: “The proposal to include DotAfrica gTLD in the List of Reserved Names is a tactic to make this string and similar strings in any language to be unavailable in this ICANN gTLD round so as to give special legislative protection that will benefit the AU, and give it extraordinary powers to separately negotiate and delegate these names outside the ICANN programme.”

The DCA post in reaction to the article which DCA claims creates makes the impression that   “the ministerial meeting agreed that the .africa gTLD should be reserved” which means“that organizations that want to bid to manage it must be sanctioned by the AU” and that “ICANN’s new gTLD application process provides for countries and regions with interest in certain names to reserve them.”

DCA further states that even though it was opposed to the the draft resolution, the final resolution was later adopted without any regard for dissenting viewpoints by the Experts Meeting of the African Ministerial Round-Table.

“Therefore, it must be noted that the official request contained in the communiqué still has to be reviewed by the ICANN Board, the only relevant authority that has the power to approve or deny the request to include DotAfrica in the List of Reserved Names,” notes the post.
“The current name strings in the

List that are in the approved version of the ICANN new gTLD Applicant Guidebook does not include DotAfrica, and any approval of this extraordinary request by the AU will necessitate an amendment to relevant sections of ICANN’s New Applicant’s Guidebook,” notes DCA.

The DCA post further states the move to include the strings in the list of reserved names “is an invidious plan that would make DotAfrica unavailable to other applicants simply based on a special legislative protection that will create an anti-competitive situation and unfairness.”

Noting that it is is “quite problematic to change the rules very late in the game,” DCA adds that correnbtly the only the names for the Olympic movement and the International Red Cross movement are the only gTLD strings ineligible for delegation during this initial application round.

“The DotAfrica name string is not at risk, and as such could be applied for under the open and transparent new gTLD programme of ICANN. Our belief is that those who have advocated for the inclusion of DotAfrica in the List of Reserved Names are only doing so to enable them bypass the ICANN process, and obtain the mandate for DotAfrica through a separate process negotiated directly with the African Union,” states DCA, adding that proponents of “this approach lack the confidence to apply directly at ICANN and are only hoping that the AU will assist them in their illegitimate agenda to hijack DotAfrica.”

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South Africa's Internet Solutions Increases its African Footprint

South Africa's ISP Internet Soutions is expanding its operations in Africa beyond its home turf of South Africa by establishing a new subsidiary IS International to handle its overseas operations. IS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dimension Data based in Africa and the Midde East and was the first commercial ISP in South Africa.

In October this year, Dimension Data increased its shareholding in IS Kenya from 52% to 80%. IS initially acquired a 51% stake in local Kenyan service provider iConnect in 2005, which was rebranded IS Kenya. IS sees East Africa as a strategic market as the region is experiencing a boom in internet connectivity. This is largely due to the increased international bandwidth capacity in the region supplied via the numerous undersea cable systems, of which IS has secured substantial capacity on. These include; Seacom, EASSy and Teams. There is also massive investment being made into fixed line and wireless infrastructure in the region bringing more users online and driving the demand for data services.

The new unit, IS International, will provide significant additional support and investment to the group’s existing operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique. With pan-African expansion in mind, the information and communications technology company also plans to establish further sales and operational presences in the largely untapped markets of Angola, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

To fully harness the business opportunities in Africa, IS will augment its existing London office by opening new sales offices in North America and Australia, with offices to be opened in other selected countries over time. These sales offices will work with wholesale and multinational clients that are eager to expand into Africa and need a globally experienced and reliable ICT partner on the ground. The offices will also help African clients to expand their communications internationally thanks to the global presence of IS.

IS International will be established as a focused business unit responsible for executing on these initiatives. It will be led by Tony Walt, who will become MD of IS International from January 2012. Walt will report to Derek Wilcocks, the MD of IS.

Wilcocks says Tony Walt is the best person to head the group’s international expansion given his 15 years of experience in helping IS’ clients in South Africa with all their communications needs. “Tony understands that Africa is a tough market and needs sound resilient IT solutions,” Wilcocks said.

The new structure would give foreign companies a trusted and experienced partner able to provide all their communication needs across various African countries, Walt said. It would also be better equipped to help its existing African clients expand internationally through this new structure. “We are very excited to firm up our expansion plans into Africa and to ensure we help global companies to capitalise on the great business opportunities within our continent,” Walt said.

The country managers of the group’s existing operations in the UK, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Mozambique will report directly to Tony Walt in his new role as MD of IS International.

Courtesy IS Corporate Communications

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