Establishing ccTLDs in Africa - Overcoming The Challenges Michuki Mwangi President AfTLD AfTLD Meeting 7th, April 2008 Johannesburg, South-Africa.

Establishing ccTLDs in Africa - Overcoming The Challenges

Michuki MwangiPresident AfTLD

AfTLD Meeting7th, April 2008

Johannesburg, South-Africa

Definition The Internet is part of a Country’s

Virtual Real Estate The ccTLD is one of the virtual real

estate’s inherent natural resource The resource should be developed for

the benefit of all As with any natural resource,

governance issues are paramount Therefore the right approach is

fundamental in overcoming challenges

(Cont’d….) Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) There are 249 ccTLDs in the world There are 58 million domain names under

ccTLDs compared to 95 Million gTLDs Representing a 33% growth in 2007 Trend portrays the growth potential for

upcoming ccTLDs .ZA is largest in Africa and probably still

amongst the top 20 ccTLDs in the world

Challenges

Representation Neutrality The Policy bit The Technical bit The ICANN bit

Representation Is a contentious issue Requires broad based consultations Identify the Local Internet Community

(LIC) or the Key stakeholders Work out a mutually acceptable

governance model Mostly successful through lobbying and

consensus building amongst the LIC This yields a home grown/local solution

Deducing the Stakeholders

Government Private Sector (Service Providers) Academia Civil Society Legal fraternity

Their Roles Government = Facilitator

Often seen as neutral but not always trusted Out to represent the public interests A resource for support and funding

Private Sector = implementers Have the technical skills and expertise Business centric - will ensure sustainability Represent the private sector interests A source of support and funding

(Cont’d…) Academia = Ambassadors

A good source for staffing/Internship programs Promoting awareness starts here for future growth Capacity building activities Perceived as neutral institutions

Civil Society = critics & mediators Policy developers middle ground between Govt. & Private Sector

Legal Fraternity = advisors The legal issues and they are many! Intellectual property, Privacy/Whois issues Dispute resolution

Challenges

Representation Neutrality The Policy bit The Technical bit The ICANN bit

Neutrality

Neutrality is key to a ccTLDs success Neutrality will yield autonomy Autonomy promotes acceptance and

Ownership The ccTLDs location is a critical factor The Governance structure should

been seen as neutral/balanced

Challenges

Representation Neutrality The Policy bit The Technical bit The ICANN bit

The Policy Bit Define the ccTLD registry model

A registry/Registrar, Open Registry or Hybrid registry Model

The dispute resolution, WhoiS Policy etc Identify the sustainability model

Costing per Domain name It’s a startup - Opt for effective and efficient

model (nothing should be cast into stone) Use of Internship programs

Challenges

Representation Neutrality The Policy bit The Technical bit The ICANN bit

The Technical Bit Technical Skills & Capacity

Skill-set from ISP community Requires ccTLD training Internship at already established ccTLD is useful Requires financing

Technical infrastructure Connectivity is mandatory as per ICP-1 RFCs provide technical implementation guidelines Resources are mainly from the private sector/ISPs Requires financing especially for hardware

acquisition

(Cont’d…) Registry Software

The registry software adheres to the ccTLD policies and not the other way round

Software development can be an expensive and time consuming process

Where possible avoid-reinventing the wheel There are a number of Open-Source ccTLD

registry software and some are going to be presented at this workshop.

Challenges

Representation Neutrality The Policy bit The Technical bit The ICANN bit

The ICANN/IANA bit This is the last stage in implementing a

ccTLD Its not a challenge but a part of the

process It often however appears as the

challenge since everyone starts here And gets sent back to start at the

representation stage What does this process involve?

The process The entity seeking re-delegation submits application

for re-delegation. The application is accompanied by;

A completed ccTLD template Documentation showing the re-delegation serves in the

interest of the LIC Documentation showing the skills & capacities of the entity

seeking re-delegation Legal company documents Demonstrate support from Government or provide contacts

Upon receipt IANA reviews and tests template data IANA will seek re-delegation approval from current

ccTLD contacts

(Cont’d…) Thereafter, all parties will negotiate and sign

appropriate ccTLD - ICANN agreements The IANA will then issue a report to the DOC

and implements changes once they are approved

New ccTLD manager verifies changes and proceeds with service provision

What’s AfTLDs role? To provide information on what it takes to

implement a ccTLD or a re-delegation process Provide guidance based on case studies and

experiences (not solutions). Facilitate technical capacity building events that

relate to management of ccTLD registries. Facilitate Internships with established ccTLDs Facilitate with establishing secondary DNS servers

hosts amongst ccTLD members in the region Not picking sides! :)

Conclusion The challenges are not in the technical

implementation but on the Governance issues - For some this has taken years!

There’s need for boot-strapping initiatives to help most African ccTLDs get out of their current dilemmas.

Avoid too much talk or politicizing the process. Remember the devils always in the detail

Remember the ccTLD publishes a name - the value’s NOT in the name but its content - What’s in a name?

Thank you

http://[email protected]