[AfrICANN-discuss] AfriDNS - Internet governance at the local level

[Dewole Ajao]

This statement right here is insightful but again nothing is ever as simple as it appears, right? 

"... A domain by itself is of no value. If you are trying to encourage content then it’s a very different conversation" - Mr. Michele 

The process probably starts with a (potential) customer having content that they want to share; 
At some point, there is a crowd and they decide they need their own identity to stand out (of course they will pick the domain name extension that's least stressful and most affordable to acquire); 
Then the registrars had better hope they are vain/rich enough to grab many extensions of their chosen name from Day 1; 
Again, hopefully they get big/vain enough to care about identity preservation/protection and grab a few more popular extensions and hopefully keep renewing them. 

Personally, I believe that while content might be the starting point, vanity and profiteering are the amplifiers of the global domain name industry. 

Some other pointers might be the state of Internet connectivity - how significant are the connected populations in these places? Do business owners think it's important to acquire unique Internet real estate? Not unless they view it as being significantly revenue-impacting. I know of a Nigerian gossip blogger who for many years was reportedly raking in thousands of dollars in daily advert revenue and all she had was a .blogspot.com subdomain. When she finally had to setup a domain name to reduce Google's control over her visibility on the web (only in the last 2 years or so), she opted for a .com even though she could afford a .ng domain. 

While stable infrastructure, pricing, ease of payment, and registry automation are important considerations, I think the younger ccTLD operators have a lot of enlightenment and hoping to do (if the local markets are their targets). Unless they can figure out ways to influence local development in areas like connectivity, web hosting, online payment and e-commerce in general, there is still a long way to go. 

Dewole. 



From: "Michele Neylon - Blacknight" <michele at blacknight.com> 
To: "AfrICANN Community List" <africann at afrinic.net> 
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2017 6:58:33 PM 
Subject: Re: [AfrICANN-discuss] AfriDNS - Internet governance at the local level 



Alan 



Do you mean wholesale price or retail? 



And either way it’s not just Africa 

The Latin American market is as bad if not worse, with many ccTLDs in the region looking for $50+ per year. 



Also, if you look at the African ccTLDs there are still quite a few that don’t offer any level of automation or a proper registrar system so it’s hard to see how they’d scale. 



But why do you want them to buy African domains? A domain by itself is of no value. If you are trying to encourage content then it’s a very different conversation 



Regards 



Michele 








-- 

Mr Michele Neylon 

Blacknight Solutions 

Hosting, Colocation & Domains 

https://www.blacknight.com/ 

http://blacknight.blog/ 

Intl. +353 (0) 59 9183072 

Direct Dial: +353 (0)59 9183090 

Personal blog: https://michele.blog/ 

Some thoughts: https://ceo.hosting/ 

------------------------------- 

Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd, Unit 12A,Barrowside Business Park,Sleaty 


Road,Graiguecullen,Carlow,R93 X265,Ireland Company No.: 370845 


From: Alan Levin <alan at futureperfect.co.za> 
Reply-To: "africann at afrinic.net" <africann at afrinic.net> 
Date: Thursday 16 November 2017 at 09:52 
To: "africann at afrinic.net" <africann at afrinic.net> 
Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] AfriDNS - Internet governance at the local level 





Hi, 





I've been studying African cctld for many years. 





The cost of registering an African cctld in Uganda / Nigeria / Ghana / Botswana / Angola, etc appears to remain totally out of kilter with the global market rates. To buy a .ke for a local is around USD6, but for a foreigner it's >USD17 and they appear to be one of the cheapest. 





In South Africa a domain goes for less than USD5, and they are available globally at the same price. We have over 1.2m registrations... significantly more than any other African cctld... 





How can I encourage our clients to buy African cctlds when there is so much more to chose from nowadays? 





Sincerely 





Alan 

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