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DotConnectAfrica
Founded2006
FounderSophia Bekele, Executive Director/CEO;
FocusTo establish a .africa Top Level Domain while addressing the internet governance divide within Africa.
Location
OriginsAfrica
Area served
Global
Product.africa
Members
35
WebsiteDotConnectAfrica

DotConnectAfrica (DCA) is an independent non-profit, non-partisan organisation that was founded in 2006. The organization was incorporated in Mauritius[1] to sponsor, establish and operate the proposed new Top Level Domain (TLD) ".africa".

DotConnectAfrica has its base of operations in Nairobi, Kenya and headquarters in Port Louis, Mauritius.

On April 11, 2013 ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee said that the .africa bid filed by DotConnectAfrica should be rejected. This was a full consensus objection. [2]

Governance Structure

According to the organization website, the governance model is to be adapted from Africa's development policy model augmented with other geo-TLD models. Public Policy consideration will include direct input from African policy makers, including the African Union, Economic Commission for Africa and African Development Bank on policy matters.[3]

History

Sophia Bekele, director of DotConnectAfrica, has undertaken policy-level work at ICANN. She served as a gNSO Council member from 2005 to 2007 and participated in the new gTLD policy development process (PDP). DCA, with the hope of operating the gTLD domain name registry for .africa, participated in and sponsored ICANN meetings for many years, including one in Brussels in 2008.[4]

DCA presented the DotAfrica (.africa) gTLD initiative to several inter-governmental bodies in Africa such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the African Union Commission (AUC). UNECA endorsed DotConnectAfrica's application. AUC also endorsed the proposal in 2009.[5]

In March 2011, the African Top-Level Domains Association (AfTLD) announced that it would try to be named the registrar for the .africa TLD.[6] DCA claimed that AfTLD was using "doublespeak" to gain the African Union's endorsement. AfTLD claimed that DCA was using "intimidation" to gain the right to operate the registry. In response, the AU stated that "it is not supporting any one individual or organisation in this bid."[7]

In December 2011, Bekele said that over 3600 potential registrants had preregistered with DCA. She also said that, if granted the right to administer the .africa TLD, DCA would set prices at levels competitive with the popular .com TLD: about $10 for the domains.[6]

In June 2012 the African Union Commission endorsed South African company UniForum as its preferred applicant for .africa "due to its commitment to transparency and its record of accomplishment in reliability, technical ability, financial stability and continental representation."[8]

Application to ICANN

The DotAfrica (.africa) gTLD application was submitted by DCA Trust during the application window that opened on 12 January 2012 and closed on 22 May 2012. When the list of newly proposed gTLDs was announced by ICANN on June 12, 2012, it appeared that DCA had applied for .dotafrica instead of .africa. Sophia Bekele announced that this was an error and that DCA had in fact applied for .africa.

On 2 November 2012, ICANN announced that changes had been effected to several applications. According to Michele Jourdan, Manager, New gTLD Communications "As of 29 October, we've received 138 change requests and approved and posted 29."[8]

DotConnectAfrica were among the applicants who received the change requests.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

Early warnings of objections to DCA's application

On November 20, 2012, the AUC filed an "early warning" objecting to DCA's application for the dotAfrica TLD with ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). The objection stated that "[t]he application fails to meet the minimum requirements prescribed by ICANN in the gTLD Applicant Guidebook concerning geographic names"[9] and that

DCA’s application constitutes an unwarranted intrusion and interference with the mandate given to the AUC by African Head of States and African Ministers responsible for Communication and Information Technologies. In this regard the AUC has been mandated to establish dotAfrica (.Africa) as a continental Top-Level Domain for use by organisations, businesses and individuals with guidance from African Internet Agencies and in doing so to set up the structures and modalities for the implementation of the dotAfrica (.Africa) project. DCA’s persistent interference in this process is likely to have substantive political, economic and social repercussions in Africa.[9]

Identical early warnings of objection were filed with the GAC by the governments of Comoros, Kenya, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Benin, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Morocco, Uganda, Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria, and Tanzania.[10]

Registry Services Strategic & Industry Partnerships

DotConnectAfrica announced in June 2012 that it had made an agreement with CentralNic, a domain name registrar in the United Kingdom, to provide registry services for the .africa TLD. DCA also reached agreements with Safaricom and Fincom to provide co-location for the hardware necessary to run the .africa registry.[11]

References

  1. ^ Trust Registration. ID. CT8710DCA90 "DotConnectAfrica Trust". Retrieved 2012-06-12. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ "Governance Structure of DCA". Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  4. ^ PRlog. "DotConnectAfrica: ICANN 42 Dakar: Meet the Yes2dotAfrica Campaign in Senegal". Retrieved 2012-06-08.
  5. ^ "African domain gets a nod". ITWeb Online. August 12, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  6. ^ a b Tim Hume (December 5, 2011). "Scramble for 'dot africa' internet domain name". CNN Wire.
  7. ^ "The Battle for DotAfrica - Who Will Get the Crown Jewels?". Africa News. July 8, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Reveal Day Acknowledges One .africa Application". allAfrica.com. June 15, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2012. Cite error: The named reference "revealday" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b "GAC Early Warning 1-1165-42560" (PDF). ICANN. November 20, 2012. Retrieved November 22, 2012.
  10. ^ "GAC Early Warnings". ICANN. Retrieved November 22, 2012.
  11. ^ "Telecompaper Africa/Asia: Kenya - Safaricom, Fincom to support DotAfrica registry in Kenya". Telecompaper Asia and Africa. June 19, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2012.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=DotConnectAfrica&oldid=586332703"