[kictanet] Africa TLD registries discuss take-up of domains

[Barrack Otieno]

Spot on McTim,

I am not an authority on this subject however having attended IROC
(Pre-Icann) and a few sessions in ICANN, i have realised that we need
more cooperation and collaboration among African countries if we are
to gain from the multibillion Internet economy. Most of our markets
are relatively small which calls for cross border trade hence ECOWAS,
EAC and the likes, the thing is Africa must stop playing on the
Peripheries and demand its fair share of the pay, on this note i agree
with Robert that we need a paradigm shift from the donor mentality.
>From the meetings and sessions i noticed that most African countries
are interested on the Technical meetings and not the $$$$$$
(Commercial constituency) and i raised this issue with anyone who has
told me he is from Africa at the meeting. (code name .africa). For
many of us, this is our first meeting and an eye opener but my
challenge to all of us is "one continent one voice, we must no longer
play on the periphery.

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 8:48 AM, McTim <dogwallah at gmail.com> wrote:
> Robert,
>
> On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 8:47 AM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Thanks for the heads up on this, I have been attending the sessions at the
>> ICANN conference and it has been very informative it is unfortunate that
>> very few Kenyan's are attending or even have an idea of what is ready being
>> hatched.
>
>
> This is not a Kenya specific problem, it's global.  The "bottom" of
> the bottom up process is very narrow worldwide.
>
>>
>> During the diner yesterday I sat next to a staff member of Afilias who are
>> one of the largest registry operators in the US and the information I got
>> from him has been an eye opener especially on issues of registrars and
>> registry as relates to TLD.
>>
>> It seems that the problem with African countries is our dependence on
>> donations and handouts, the registry business is a huge money maker once you
>> put aside the techie staff.  In this light I think it is time that we got
>> KENIC a competitor or two maybe even 10 by doing this we shall bring order,
>> ambition and drive into the TLD business in the region.
>
>
> The Domain name business is a multiBillion dollar industry. However,
> the ccTLD market is only a very small part of that.
>
>   Afilias runs the
>> .org and also the .mobi and they went out to chase for the business they did
>> not just sit back and wait for it to be donated.
>
> To clarify, PIR runs .org, and Dotmobi runs .mobi.  What Afilias does
> is provide back end registry services for these and other regisries.
>
>
>>
>> From the link Mureithi provided it is clear that Kenya has a slight
>> advantage over other countries in the region which, we need to move this
>> advantage to the next level by offering to become the registry for .ug, .ea,
>> .cd, .rw and also the TLD for .afri.  By providing the services to our less
>> advanced neighbours we shall easily achieve critical mass of users thens we
>> can role out registrars around the region.
>
>
> I doubt that .ug, et. al. would outsource its back end to KENIC, they
> might, but I doubt it.
>
> As for .africa, most likely that would be outsourced to someone like
> Afilias.  There is a long standing discussion on who would act as the
> registry for .africa.  My preference is for it to be done by the
> African Internet technical community on the .org model.
>
>>
>> Lets work towards lighting a fire under KENIC as we work towards EACoNIC,
>
> Why would we want such a body? What role would they play? What is the
> problem that such a NIC would solve?
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> McTim
> "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
> route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> This message was sent to: otieno.barrack at gmail.com
> Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail.com
>



-- 
Barrack O. Otieno
Administrative Manager
Afriregister Ltd (Ke)
P.o.Box 21682
Nairobi 00100
Tel:
+254721325277
+254733206359
+254202498789
Riara Road, Bamboo Lane
www.afriregister.com
www.afriregister.co.ke
ICANN accredited registrar.
Skype: barrack.otieno