THE possibility of a single domain name for 54 countries in Africa has finally been achieved thereby uniting the continent and making it is now possible to own an Internet address, or domain name, ending with .africa.
The development was the result of the Oliver Tambo and Abuja Declarations of the 1990s.
Already, more than 8000 of the continent’s and world’s biggest brands, businesses and individuals have registered for this exciting new Internet address.
Diverse organisations ranging from banks to media companies are registering .africa domain names, said Lucky Masilela, CEO of the ZACR, the non-profit company tasked with administering the new .africa domain name on behalf of the continent.
“Leading continental and international brands are snapping up .africa domain names because they recognise the importance of being associated with Africa’s bright future online. With many positive stories coming out of Africa, brands understand that .africa domain names are valuable virtual real estate,” said Masilela.
The Oliver Tambo and Abuja Declarations of the 1990s . resolutions stated that ICT will be central to Africa’s future wellbeing and .africa is surely amongst the top African-led ICT initiatives of the last twenty years.
“Initiatives like .africa help harness the power of new technologies to solve old problems. Dotafrica is unique in that it gives Africans an important sense of pride to help motivate them to achieve the very best for their continent and themselves”, concluded Masilela.
Maureen Akello, East Africa
Leave a Reply