Africa DNS Forum: Taking Stock and Planning Ahead

The 5th Africa Domain Names System (DNS) Forum was successfully closed on 28 July after three days of insightful reflections on the Africa DNS Industry and the business opportunities it can provide. This forum follows on the success of previous fora that have taken place in Africa over the past few years – namely South Africa in 2013, Nigeria in 2014, Kenya in 2015, and Morocco in 2016. 
 
Organized by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Internet Society, and Africa Top Level Domains Organization (AfTLD) and hosted by the Tanzania Network Information Centre (TzNIC), this year’s event was held under the theme “Taking stock of the Africa DNS Industry and planning ahead.” The official opening of the event was officiated by the Deputy Minister of Works, Transport, and Communications of Tanzania, Acting Director General of Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), Chairperson of TISPA, Chairperson of TzNIC, the Africa VP Stakeholder for Engagement from ICANN, and the Internet Society. The session received major media coverage followed by a media briefing round-table for all the organizing partners and one-to-one interviews in English and Swahili.
 
The Internet Society staff participated in a number of panel discussions over the course of the 3 days and provided live-streaming support for the entire event. The event was remotely followed by 2160 unique views on Livestream and 392 unique views on Facebook live.
 
ZACR who manage the. Za and. Africa Top Level Domain Names also contributed to the DNS Forum by delegating the domain name “dnsforum.africa” to the event which was used for the event website http://dnsforum.africa .
 
During the meeting, the Africa DNS Market Report was launched. The report highlights the strengths and weaknesses in the Domain Name Service (DNS) sector in Africa, develops recommendations on how to maximize opportunities available and address identified challenges, and explores options for monitoring the growth, development, and emerging needs of the DNS market in Africa. One of the main takeaways of the meeting was the need to create working groups to deal with emerging issues relating to DNS in Africa such as blockchain, payment gateways, DNS Observatory, and localization of the DNS Forums.

You can learn more about the Africa DNS Forum here.