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--></style></div><div>This statement right here is insightful but again nothing is ever as simple as it appears, right?<br><br><em>"... A domain by itself is of no value. If you are trying to encourage content then it’s a very different conversation" - Mr. Michele</em><br><br>The process probably starts with a (potential) customer having content that they want to share;<br>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);<br>Then the registrars had better hope they are vain/rich enough to grab many extensions of their chosen name from Day 1;<br>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.</div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>Personally, I believe that while content might be the starting point, vanity and profiteering are the amplifiers of the global domain name industry. <br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>Dewole.<br><br></div><div><br></div><hr id="zwchr" data-marker="__DIVIDER__"><div data-marker="__HEADERS__"><b>From: </b>"Michele Neylon - Blacknight" <michele@blacknight.com><br><b>To: </b>"AfrICANN Community List" <africann@afrinic.net><br><b>Sent: </b>Thursday, November 16, 2017 6:58:33 PM<br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [AfrICANN-discuss] AfriDNS - Internet governance at the local level<br></div><div><br></div><div data-marker="__QUOTED_TEXT__">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Alan</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Do you mean wholesale price or retail?
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">And either way it’s not just Africa</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">The Latin American market is as bad if not worse, with many ccTLDs in the region looking for $50+ per year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">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.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">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</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Regards</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Michele</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">--</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Mr Michele Neylon</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Blacknight Solutions</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Hosting, Colocation & Domains</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">https://www.blacknight.com/</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">http://blacknight.blog/</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Intl. +353 (0) 59 9183072</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Direct Dial: +353 (0)59 9183090</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Personal blog: https://michele.blog/</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Some thoughts: https://ceo.hosting/
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">-------------------------------</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd, Unit 12A,Barrowside Business Park,Sleaty</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Road,Graiguecullen,Carlow,R93 X265,Ireland Company No.: 370845</span><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB"></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From: </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Alan Levin <alan@futureperfect.co.za><br>
<b>Reply-To: </b>"africann@afrinic.net" <africann@afrinic.net><br>
<b>Date: </b>Thursday 16 November 2017 at 09:52<br>
<b>To: </b>"africann@afrinic.net" <africann@afrinic.net><br>
<b>Subject: </b>[AfrICANN-discuss] AfriDNS - Internet governance at the local level</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt">Hi,</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt">I've been studying African cctld for many years. </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt">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. </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt">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... </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt">How can I encourage our clients to buy African cctlds when there is so much more to chose from nowadays? </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt">Sincerely</span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_MailOriginalBody"><span style="font-size:9.5pt">Alan</span></span></p>
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