ICANN Seeks Increased Support To DNS Industry within Africa

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has called for increased support to the Domain Name System (DNS) industry within the African Continent.

Göran Marby, President of ICANN reiterated the call at a two-day capacity building workshop held by ICANN in Nairobi, Kenya, stressing that the African Union Commission (AUC) has roles to play in boosting the industry's growth among member countries.

Speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, Marby said that ICANN views Africa region as strategic in deepening the industry, while calling on AUC to also show more commitment to Internet Protocol Version Six (IPv6) migration. ‎

IPv6 is the latest version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet.

The Protocol was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to deal with the long-anticipated problem of IPv4 address exhaustion.

"One of the things I made very clear during a meeting with the African Union Commission (AUC) earlier today is to having an understanding of the need for Internet Protocol Version Six (IPv6). The Union needs to articulate how to encourage each country to queue, migrating to for IPv6.

"The positive thing is that the technology for IPv6 is globally applicable and Africa is not left behind. I think as other continents are migrating, Africa, as a well positioned partner, will not be left behind. That is why we support the trainings, workshops to build and boost engineers’ competencies in the IPv6 technicalities," the ICANN President told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek on phone.‎

Speaking on the significance of the workshop held in conjunction with the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee(GAC) Under-served Regions Working Group, Marby‎ said it was aimed at  “Harnessing the potential of the Africa GAC members for better Participation in ICANN”

"This is the first capacity building regional workshop for Africa Government Advisory Committee Representatives organized by ICANN’s recently established Nairobi Engagement Office.‎ We want to do things differently by engaging with the stakeholders. Capacity building is key for the region to thrive because technology is evolving. The African continent’s participation in ICANN is important. It is growing every day, and we want to work together, within our mission, to make sure countries in Africa are well represented on one secure, stable and resilient global Internet.”

"Even if the internet is global, in terms of connectivity, with six billion users, there are still many to be connected".

According to him, local access to the Internet with schools, hospitals, transportation, and financial inclusion leading the drives, are supposed to deepen the market penetration going forward. "This is what happens everywhere. To make that possible depend on the interaction the region is having with the DNS systems, because that is the vehicle to make it happen. Therefore, the more locals dependent on the internet to solve their needs, the more the recognition the DNS systems receive.

Speaking on ‎areas requiring policy decisions in Africa to drive DNS industry, he said, "First, affordable access to the internet is key‎ to driving interests and businesses to the internet. So, the government needs to think about how to get the infrastructure in place to grant access. How do you grant access to the people? Or how do you create demands among the people outside the urban cities? Because people want to achieve their goals; needing the power of the internet to push them".

He further said that ICANN is still on course with regards plans for Africa‎. "We are together with stakeholders in Africa, looking at the best ways to support the local communities. African community here includes, the DNS industry, the Government, the academia, civil society, businesses, technical experts and end users, who we will continue to do things together with them".

In his contribution,  Pierre Dandjinou, VP for globe stakeholder engagement in Africa‎ told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that ‎ICANN has continued to develop different approaches to increasing Africa's participation in its policy making level.

He said, "Yes, we have started in that direction with the opening of office in Nairobi. Secondly, we are seeing more participation of Africa in ICANN’s activities, but we need what I call efficient participation, meaning that the Working Group (WG) are really contributing to the development of this industry.

"Therefore, Africa’s participation has to be felt at the global level in terms of increased domain names, applications, and other solutions to deepen penetration. Aside the workshops, we are trying to organize road shows, capacity building, develop business plans and other activities to boost our presence in Africa," he said.

Meanwhile, the ‎President emphasised the need for improved communication among the members, "because the DNS industry has a structure to achieve the aims. It is not just about belonging to the DNS systems, but generating results".

ICANN’s mission is to help ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet.‎