Regulator steps up drive for cheaper Internet solutions

The international body that assigns internet addresses has urged African countries to expand the reach and affordability of the internet to help improve the economic wellbeing of their citizens.

At almost one billion people, 15 per cent of the world’s population, live on the African continent, yet they make up to less than seven per cent of all internet users.

The chief executive of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, Mr Rod Beckstrom, addressing participants during the ongoing 37th ICANN meeting in Nairobi said it was time for African nations to end telecommunication monopolies which led to an increase in the prices of Internet services and trapped the poor in a “technological drought”.

“We would like to encourage, and help African leaders where we can to make internet more accessible and more affordable and in doing so encourage economic growth in the world where online commerce is increasingly important,” said Mr Beckstrom.

He said African leaders could do this by joining ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee or by appointing representatives to the committee by June 20, this year, when ICANN’s next general meeting is scheduled to begin in Brussels, Belgium.

He singled out Kenya as a prime example of an African state that has embraced the emerging online world with its growing fibre optic system and its potential for expansion across the continent.

“Africa’s young generation is already embracing the internet, with 77 per cent of Kenyan’s wanting to spend more time online and 63 per cent seeking more and better access to the internet.”

Among the key resolutions expected in the Nairobi meeting is the adoption of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLD).

These are the end portion of an internet address name such as .”com” or .org and are not associated with any specific country. The resolution will be voted for or against this Friday.

Under the ICANN’S new procedure, the numbers of these gTLD’s will eventually be expanded from its current list of 21 to include almost any word , in any language.

By going multi-lingual it is expected that internet will be accessible to more. The address system currently does not accept languages such as Arabic scripts.

With the change, it will be possible to use characters from other languages , such as Chinese, Arabic and even African languages for full internet address, instead of just part of the address.