The 2016 African Domain Name System Market Study Final
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THE 2016 AFRICAN DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM MARKET STUDY FINAL REPORT 6th June 2017 Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the many people who made this report possible. They include our many country leaders (who between them spoke Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and a number of other languages), our researchers and our contributors and editors. In particular we would like to mention William Stucke who served as the SACF Project Leader and chief editor, Anriette Esterhuysen, Lucky Masilela, Mark Elkins, Mike Jensen, and Sami Salih. Afilias, EyeDomain, ISOC-SD, ZACR and ZISPA, were particularly helpful in providing data for analysis. Africa Domain Name System Market Study Report, 6th June 2017, SACF Page 2 of 213 AFRICA DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM MARKET STUDY Table of Contents 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 10 1.1 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 10 1.2 The African Ecosystem ........................................................................................ 11 1.3 African DNS Market ............................................................................................. 12 1.4 Success factors................................................................................................... 15 1.5 Recommendations .............................................................................................. 17 1.5.1 Infrastructure ............................................................................................... 17 1.5.2 Internet Service Demand ............................................................................... 17 1.5.3 Policy and Regulation .................................................................................... 18 1.5.4 Local Content ............................................................................................... 19 1.5.5 Inhibiting Factors .......................................................................................... 19 1.5.6 Registry Specific Recommendations ................................................................ 19 2 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 20 3 PROJECT BACKGROUND ............................................................................................. 23 3.1 Project Objectives ............................................................................................... 23 4 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 25 4.1 Development of Targets for Data Gathering ........................................................... 25 4.2 The Online Survey Tool ........................................................................................ 29 4.2.1 Interface Design ........................................................................................... 29 4.2.2 Question Development .................................................................................. 30 4.2.3 Language and Translation .............................................................................. 30 4.2.4 Questionnaire Statistics ................................................................................. 31 4.3 Data Gathering Strategy and Preparation ............................................................... 31 4.3.1 Training ....................................................................................................... 31 Africa Domain Name System Market Study Report, 6th June 2017, SACF Page 3 of 213 4.4 Data Analysis Procedures ..................................................................................... 32 5 THE AFRICAN DNS ECOSYSTEM .................................................................................. 35 5.1 Africa Rising ....................................................................................................... 35 5.2 The African Domain Name Space .......................................................................... 36 5.3 Internet Use ....................................................................................................... 38 5.3.1 Digital Literacy ............................................................................................. 40 5.3.2 Language Literacy and Impact of Local Content ................................................ 42 5.3.3 Access to Smart Devices ................................................................................ 43 5.3.4 Cost to Communicate .................................................................................... 45 5.4 Internet Infrastructure ........................................................................................ 47 5.4.1 Backbone Infrastructure ................................................................................ 48 5.4.2 Local Access Infrastructure - the Retail/Local Loop ............................................ 51 5.4.3 IXPs and Data Centres .................................................................................. 57 5.4.3.1 IXPs .......................................................................................................................................... 58 5.4.3.2 Data Centres ............................................................................................................................ 74 5.4.4 IP Infrastructure ........................................................................................... 79 5.4.5 ISP Associations and IXPs .............................................................................. 82 5.5 Content and the African DNS ................................................................................ 83 5.5.1 Types of Content Hosted ................................................................................ 83 5.5.2 Digital Entrepreneur Development .................................................................. 84 5.5.3 SMEs and E-Commerce ................................................................................. 85 5.5.4 Volumes of Content by Country ...................................................................... 86 5.5.5 Offshore and On-Continent Hosting ................................................................. 91 5.5.5.1 Afilias gTLD Domains ............................................................................................................... 91 5.5.5.2 EyeDomain gTLD Domains ....................................................................................................... 97 5.5.5.3 gTLD Summary ....................................................................................................................... 101 5.5.5.4 Comparison of ccTLD and gTLD domains .............................................................................. 103 5.5.5.5 African Zone Files ................................................................................................................... 103 5.5.5.6 Lesotho .................................................................................................................................. 105 Africa Domain Name System Market Study Report, 6th June 2017, SACF Page 4 of 213 5.5.5.7 Sudan ..................................................................................................................................... 105 5.5.5.8 Zimbabwe .............................................................................................................................. 106 5.5.5.9 South Africa ........................................................................................................................... 107 5.5.5.10 City gTLDs: .CAPETOWN, .DURBAN & .JOBURG................................................................. 107 6 KEY FEATURES OF THE AFRICAN DNS MARKET ........................................................... 109 6.1 Internet Services - Institutional Roles .................................................................. 109 6.1.1 Regional and National ICT Policy, Strategies and Regulatory Authorities ............ 109 6.1.1.1 ICANN ..................................................................................................................................... 109 6.1.1.2 AfriNIC .................................................................................................................................... 109 6.1.1.3 The African Union (AU) .......................................................................................................... 109 6.1.1.4 The Regional Economic Communities (RECs) ........................................................................ 110 6.1.1.5 National Policy and Regulatory Bodies .................................................................................. 110 6.1.2 DNS Governance ........................................................................................ 113 6.1.3 The Influence of Politics on Telecommunications and the Internet ..................... 114 6.2 The ccTLD Address Space in Africa ...................................................................... 116 6.3 The Demand for African Domain Names ............................................................... 117 6.3.1 Local Entities .............................................................................................. 117 6.3.2 Offshore Entities ......................................................................................... 118 6.3.3 Domain Hacks