The first phase of the new generic Top Level Domain (TLD) applications were released on Wednesday, June 13, 2012. REMMY NWEKE examines how the African continent fared in the process, so far.
Preamble:
A few days ago, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN) concluded the first phase of the processes on the new
Generic Top Level Domain (gTLDs) with Africa scoring the least position with
only 17 strings out of the 1,930 total applications submitted.
ICANN records showed that North America led the process with
911, followed by Europe with 675, Asia 303, Latin America and Caribbean got 24,
Africa concluded the process with 17 applications, with each of the
applications attracting the sum of $185,000, about N29,600,000 million per
string, thus a total of $357,050,000 million, about N57,128,000,000 billion was
raked from the 1930 strings.
About Africa:
Historically, Africa is the world’s second-largest and
second-most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including
adjacent islands, thus covering 6 per cent of the earth’s total surface area
and 20.4 per cent of the total land area, according to Wikipedia.
Additionally, Africa has about 1.0 billion people as at
2009, which accounts for about 14.72 per cent of the world’s human population
and has 54 fully recognized sovereign states, 9 territories and three de facto
states with limited recognition.
Nigeria is one of the largest populations of all African
countries, at over 160 million. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the
largest country in total area in sub-Saharan Africa, and Algeria is the largest
as a whole.
Internet community reacts:
This development came as Internet experts have reacted to
the low performance of Africa, attributing it to low-level of sensitization and
interest.
One of those who spoke on this to DigitalSENSE News, the
vice president of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) and
chief executive officer, Skannet Nigeria Limited, Mr. Sunday Folayan, berated
the level of commitment Africa has shown on domain name business.
Folayan also says Africa’s involvement in the new gTLD
business has been very minute, just as there are very few African registrars
involved in the gTLD business.
“Most of the African ccTLDs are not populated unlike their
counterparts in the other parts of the world,” he said, stressing that Africa’s
response to the new gTLDs is reflective of the low level of interest and
participation in domain name business generally.
One string is $185,000:
Explaining further on the processes to DigitalSENSE News
exclusively, the Coordinator – Global Media Relations at Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Mr. James Cole, noted that the
evaluation fee for a new gTLD application currently is at $185,000 per
application. “So, if someone applied for .thing and .thething, those would be
considered two separate applications, each with a $185,000 fee,” he
enlightened.
Also, Mr. Cole told DigitalSENSE News that the total number
of applications was 1,930, entails that each application represents one string
that has been applied for.
However, he pointed out that some strings received multiple
applications, for instance, “You can see that strings such as “.store” and “.llc”
received multiple applications.”
New gTLD @ a glance
Additionally, the new gTLD’s introduction, ICANN staff
assured would not change how the Internet operates, explaining that the
increase in number of gTLDs into the root is not expected to affect the way the
Internet operates, but potentially change the way people find information on
the Internet or how businesses plan and structure their online presence.
ICANN pointed out that market speculations have varied
widely, but the process to evaluate applications has been built to economically
accommodate a wide range. Elucidating that applying for a new gTLD is not the
same as buying a domain name.
This, officials said emphatic ‘no’, adding that nowadays,
organizations and individuals around the world could register second-level and,
in some cases, third-level domain names, citing an instance with
maps.google.com, which in this case “google” is a second-level name and “maps”
is a third-level domain.
“They simply need to find an accredited registrar, comply with
the registrant terms and conditions and pay registration and renewal fees. The
application for a new gTLD is a much more complex process. An applicant for a
new gTLD is, in fact, applying to create and operate a registry business
supporting the Internet’s domain name system,” ICANN stated in the guidebook.
Further, this involves a number of significant
responsibilities, as the operator of a new gTLD is running a piece of visible
Internet infrastructure, but not with the payment of $185,000, about N30,155,000
million application fee, among others, which means that ICANN ranked in some
N58,199,150,000 billion from the 1930 (applications) strings.
ICANN says new gTLD increases competition:
ICANN says, it developed the new generic Top-Level Domain
Programme to increase competition and choice into the Internet’s addressing
system.
Officials of ICANN led by the immediate past-president Mr.
Rod Beckstrom had explained that a gTLD is an Internet domain name extension
such as the familiar .com, .net, or .org. Stressing that there are 280 country
code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs), but only 22 “generics” in the domain name
system right now, but all that have taken a new turn with the unveiling of the
gTLD.
DigitalSENSE News recalls that the new gTLD application
window opened on January 12, 2012 and closed on May 30, 2012.
The new gTLD exercise marks a historic change in domain name
system, mainly because it allows, for the first time, non-Latin language
scripts, such as Arabic, Chinese and Cyrillic to be used in a gTLD.
Also, DigitalSENSE News noted that the new programme was
approved by ICANN’s Board of Directors in June last year, 2011, at the 41st
public meeting in Singapore, following a six-year careful study, discussion and
debate.
The programme’s formation was framed by 45 comment periods
encompassing more than 2,400 comments and analyses, in addition to 55
explanatory memoranda or independent reports and seven (7) drafts of the gTLD
applicant guidebook.
Conclusion:
Whilst the African Internet community expresses dismay on
the number of take-up from the continent on the new gTLD, it would be expedient
for African Registrars and Registry, AfriNIC to wake up to its responsibilities
of engaging the continent with the world, when it comes to Internet
development, because its high-time to join the players rather than playing
catch-up.
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