ICANN Launches Initiative to Advance Africa's Digital Transformation - Yahoo Finance

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Coalition for Digital Africa to Collaborate for Greater Internet Access, Connectivity

, /CNW/ -- The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) contiguous launched the Coalition for Digital Africa, an inaugural aimed astatine expanding the Internet successful Africa. Conceived by ICANN, the Coalition is an confederation of like-minded organizations committed to gathering a robust and unafraid Internet infrastructure to bring much Africans online.

ICANN logo (PRNewsfoto/ICANN)

Home to the youngest colonisation connected the planet, 70 percent of whom are nether property 30, Africa has 1 of the fastest-growing Internet penetration rates successful the world. Internet connectivity is increasing by leaps and bounds – from 1.2 percent successful 2000 to 43 percent successful 2021 – driven by a digitally savvy, young, and educated municipality workforce for whom adopting and utilizing online services is 2nd nature.

"The Coalition for Digital Africa provides an accidental for caller ways of cooperating and collaborating among divers stakeholders," said ICANN President and CEO Gӧran Marby. "Though the Coalition was initiated by ICANN, its occurrence is babelike connected synergistic enactment with different organizations – beryllium they local, regional, oregon planetary – who are agreed successful their purpose to heighten Africa's Internet infrastructure, summation the complaint of Internet access, bolster Internet security, and rise the level of information from Africa successful multistakeholder policymaking development."

The Coalition volition further beforehand innovation aimed astatine gathering method capableness and promote entrepreneurialism by enabling radical to entree the Internet utilizing their ain languages and scripts. While its authoritative motorboat took spot during a property league astatine the 17th yearly Internet Governance Forum, the Coalition already has rolled retired activities successful pursuit of its goals.

To marque the Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure successful Africa much robust truthful that it tin cater to the accelerated growth, the Coalition announced the installation of an ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) clump successful Kenya past month. Another clump is planned for a 2nd determination successful Africa adjacent year. These clusters alteration determination Internet queries to beryllium answered wrong the region, alternatively than being babelike connected networks and servers successful different parts of the world. The IMRS clusters volition besides trim the interaction of imaginable cyberattacks successful Africa.

"The motorboat of the Coalition brings america 1 measurement person to strengthening the Internet infrastructure successful Africa. The Coalition provides an important conveyance to alteration a amended protected DNS and much unafraid Internet infrastructure successful Africa," said Mr. John Omo, Secretary General, African Telecommunications Union. Further noting that the constitution of the Coalition volition play the important relation of enhancing assurance successful galore online systems that are present being mainstreamed, adjacent arsenic the continent looks guardant to increasing Internet penetration successful Africa from the existent 43% to globally competitory levels.

The Coalition's absorption is connected creating meaningful connectivity passim Africa. The Coalition volition statesman by moving to amended accommodate the Internet successful Africa to alteration integer inclusivity and creating opportunities to spur the maturation of section contented and businesses. Key to that effort is Universal Acceptance, oregon UA, which ensures that each valid domain names and email addresses, careless of magnitude oregon script, tin beryllium utilized by each Internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems. With UA, radical who are already connected, and those who volition beryllium connected successful the future, tin pass implicit the Internet and entree section contented successful their preferred languages and scripts.

One mode the Coalition volition tackle this is done a task led by the Association of African Universities aimed astatine making email and different systems wrong higher acquisition UA-ready. This is an indispensable measurement toward ensuring an Internet that is some utile and empowering for each people.

"This is an important and invited inaugural for Africa. Improving the method capableness of higher acquisition institutions crossed the continent is imperative for a integer Africa," said Olusola Bandele Oyewole, Secretary General of the Association of African Universities. "We are blessed to instrumentality portion successful this travel to springiness African Internet users the accidental to beryllium portion of a genuinely global, inclusive, and multilingual Internet."

The Coalition for Digital Africa comprises governments, determination and planetary organizations, and the section Internet community. Inaugural partners of the Coalition besides see the African Information Network Centre, AfRegistrar Association, Africa Top Level Domain, Africa Telecommunications Union, Association African Universities, Association Française determination le Nommage Internet en Coopération, International Telecommunication Union-Development Sector, and Network Startup Resource Center.

More accusation is disposable astatine www.coalitionfordigitalafrica.africa.

About ICANN

ICANN's ngo is to assistance guarantee a stable, secure, and unified planetary Internet. To scope different idiosyncratic connected the Internet, you person to benignant an code – a sanction oregon a fig – into your machine oregon different device. That code indispensable beryllium unique, truthful computers cognize wherever to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and enactment these unsocial identifiers crossed the world. ICANN was formed successful 1998 arsenic a not-for-profit public-benefit corp and a assemblage with participants from each implicit the world.