Search for independent .ke administrator gathers pace
CCK director general Francis Wangusi says CCK is seeking a new multi-stakeholders body that will manage the dot KE domain. FILE
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has delinked itself from the Kenya Network Information Centre (Kenic) setting stage for licensing of a new body that will manage and administer the country’s Internet addresses system.
Previously, CCK was among the seven organisation that constituted Kenic’s board. However, it cannot continue to be on the board and at the same time play its oversight role.
Francis Wangusi, director general CCK, said he recognises Kenic’s technical capacity and will issue it with the licence if it proves it will meet the licensing conditions.
“Over time, the domain name management and administration on voluntary basis became impractical. Hence, the need for CCK to delink itself from Kenic and license a new multi-stakeholders body that will manage the dot KE domain,” said Mr Wangusi.
CCK is relying on section 83F of the Kenya Information and Communications Act to license a new body to manage and administer the dot KE addresses.
Kenic was created in 2002 with the responsibility of managing the dot KE country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) name space, Kenya’s unique and globally recognised identity on the Internet.
Other than CCK, the other Kenic’s board members were drawn from the Computer Society of Kenya, Kenya Information Society, Kenya Education Network (Kenet), and the Nationwide Taskforce on Electronic Commerce, the Government, and the Telecommunications Service Providers of Kenya (Tespok).
The East African Internet Association (EAIA) was incorporated as an associate member.
For the last 10 years, Kenic has been the second biggest registry of domain names in Africa, with 28,000. South Africa’s .za leads with more than a million domains.
The move comes at a time when the government has intensified its fight on cyber crime and is also working in various policies to give it legal backing when cracking down on the offenders.
In December last year, the government asked Internet service providers (ISPs ) to issue all gadgets on the Net with Internet Protocol addresses.
However, CCK lacked the powers to enforce the State order, prompting the regulator to review the licensing conditions to include penalties for breach of the address requirement.
The new requirement will force ISPs to invest more on buying the IP addresses from Afrinic, a continental body that provides Internet address numbers. Currently, the ISPs avoid the cost by connecting multiples to the Internet using one IP address.
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