South Africa will be hosting the Africa Domain Name System (DNS) Forum on 12 – 13 July 2013. The forum aims to establish a platform for the DNS community across Africa and to advance the domain name industry and domain name registrations on the continent. The DNS Forum will foster cross-border collaboration between registries, registrars, registrants, DNS experts, Government representatives, and policy makers. Topics covered during the event include trends, opportunities, and challenges of the DNS industry; strategies for registries and registrars; legal issues with cross-border domain registrations; ways Governments can support domain name growth; and benefits of standardizing accreditation to attract more cross-border registrars and registrations.
The Internet Society, AfTLD, and ICANN have supported the continued development and growth of Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) in Africa through capacity building and technical support. The growth and sustainability of African ccTLDs however remains very low compared to other regions of the world. The three organizations determined the need for a forum that will identify the bottlenecks to the industry’s growth as well as the actions that can catalyze its growth.
