There is an obvious worry by ccTLDs that  this new string will steal business from them. But that view is unfounded.

.Africa will attract brands that perceive themselves as African centric... For example  East African Community will not need to use .int domain. Some other brands are East Africa IGF, Africa IGF, NEPAD, AGOA, Dangote, Nakumatt, Equity bank, (insert here any regional or Global brand). This space is not controlled by ccTLDs, but by gTLDs like .com .net .org and .biz

There will also be domainers who will run after dictionary names, and African names which are adword friendly, and which are easy to squat on. This will be good for the administrators of .AFRICA because they will get the much needed revenue to cover their costs, especially now that the legal battle may have taken them on a financial marathon. I cannot even imagine the value of Safari.africa, but I'm damn sure the ZACRA guys have already put that domain on premium sunrise application. There is no cause for worry because the .africa string went through the Trade Mark Protection period some years back. I remember Alice Munyua leading this process on this platform for protecting Kenyan based trademarks and heritage.

I've been in the DNS industry for more than a decade, and I know what I'm saying. And I say :-)


On Feb 11, 2017 4:08 PM, "Dorcas Muthoni via kictanet" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
When are we likely to be able to use. africa,  I am definitely interested in this. 

On Feb 11, 2017 12:18, "Ali Hussein via kictanet" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Waudo

My take is this:-

1. From a corporate perspective the idea is not to necessarily make money but for defensive registration to protect the brand. Like .google or .coke etc.

2. For Geo Domains the attraction is obvious. Whether they will make money or not is up in the air and depends on Positioning. Something that the DNS Community needs to learn.

My business sense though tells me that this space hasn't even been scratched yet. In a series of Capacity Building Seminars that ICANN held in 2015 through 2016 for the DNS Sector in Africa it became obvious that:-

a) The space is virgin territory in terms of being exploited 
b) Marketing and online fulfillment is an area that requires great attention
c) That ICANN is committed to helping the sector grow and realize its potential

We in the sector need to do our part and sensitize all players to come to the table.

There's more to real estate than a plot in Kitengela. There are prime positions to be had online.. :-). 

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim


"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."  ~ Aristotle


Sent from my iPad

On 11 Feb 2017, at 9:37 AM, waudo siganga via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

someone needs to take me on a 101 course why there is so much rumpus about these new gTLDs, especially the geos. Will they break even/make money? Already ZACR has 3 other geo nTLDs in South Africa but the registrations as shown at ntldstats.com seem pretty modest. Multichoice had registered around 6 dotbrands with fancy names like .supersport and .africamagic all at $185,000 each but appears to have come to a brick wall and bolted to cut the losses. Maybe I'm missing something. If so please bring me up to date.
 
W.
 
On Sat, Feb 11, 2017, at 12:27 AM, Grace B via kictanet wrote:
The news is being received with measured optimism.
 
2017-02-10 11:30 GMT+03:00 Barrack Otieno via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>:

Listers

Fyi

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Rinalia Abdul Rahim" <rinalia.abdulrahim@gmail.com>
Date: Feb 10, 2017 10:59 AM
Subject: [ALAC] .africa news
To: "ALAC Working List" <alac@atlarge-lists.icann.org>
 
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