The recent gathering of Pan-Africans in Addis Ababa Ethiopia for the Africa Re-imagined Creative Hub hosted by the African Union presented invaluable information which was shared during the meeting and dotAfrica was one of the many topics discussed.
dotAfrica, a domain for Africa was recently launched under the establishment of the AU.
About the Domain
dotAfrica (.africa) is the proposed new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) for the African continent. It is an opportunity to forge a unique online identity which will associate your products, services and/or information with the continent and people of Africa.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organisation responsible for the coordination of the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers, launched a new top level domain application process in 2012. The outcome of this process will ultimately alter the digital landscape on the internet forever.
The Applicant for the dotAfrica gTLD is the ZA Central Registry, a non-profit company based in Johannesburg, South Africa and currently responsible for the registry functions of the .ZA namespace. The dotAfrica application has been submitted with the endorsement and support of the African Union Commission (AUC) and individual African governments and regional governmental agencies and organisations. The dotAfrica project enjoys widespread support from the African community, including AfriNIC, AfTLD, ITU, UNECA and Nepad.
The dotAfrica gTLD will bring the continent together as an internet community under one umbrella allowing e-commerce, technology and infrastructure to flourish. A truly African initiative established by Africans for Africa and the World.
A round of applause for Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and her team. Africa is in dire need of such platforms to convey our information on our very own domain. It has been a long time coming.
I hope this establishment attains its goals and in the long run benefit Africa and her people.