The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is pleased to announce that applications are now open for the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) Roadshows project, an effort of the Coalition for Digital Africa. The goal of this project is to promote the adoption and implementation of DNSSEC protocols to improve the security of African country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). The roadshows are intended to provide ccTLD operators with the tools and expertise they need to protect their infrastructure, maintain user trust, and improve overall Internet security.

ICANN is dedicated to creating a safe and resilient Internet ecosystem. Improving DNSSEC adoption has long been a priority for ICANN in Africa. We understand the value of DNSSEC in bolstering trust and confidence in online transactions. In Africa, where the digital economy is quickly expanding, supporting DNSSEC adoption and deployment is critical.

The DNSSEC Roadshows project provides a unique opportunity for African ccTLD operators to be supported in their journey to DNSSEC implementation and promotion. The project provides technical training and support to ccTLD operators interested in deploying DNSSEC as part of their commitment to contribute to a globally secured DNS infrastructure and a safe online environment.

ccTLD operators that wish to participate in the DNSSEC Roadshows project are requested to submit their application by 23:59 UTC on 30 September 2023.

The project will select up to 13 ccTLD operators to participate in the DNSSEC Roadshows project. Seven openings are available for fiscal year 2024 (July 2023 – June 2024).

Please visit the Coalition for Digital Africa's website to learn how to apply, the requirements, and selection criteria. The application period will close at 23:59 UTC on 30 September 2023. If you have any questions or need further information, please send an email to info@cda.africa.

The Coalition for Digital Africa brings together numerous organizations with the common goal of boosting Internet access and assisting in the development of Africa's digital economy. This collaborative endeavor aims to close the digital divide and empower individuals and companies across Africa. The DNSSEC Roadshows project will play an important role in upgrading the security landscape of Africa's digital infrastructure and in highlighting how ccTLDs contribute to this mission.

The Coalition for Digital Africa and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) have announced that Cairo, Egypt, will be the second location for the deployment of the ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) installation in Africa. This is part of a Coalition initiative launched in 2022, which is slated to be deployed in September.

The first IMRS deployment was made operational in Nairobi, Kenya in November 2022. As a result, most Africa-based Internet DNS root queries are now resolved in Africa. The IMRS in Nairobi, Kenya handles 40 percent of all IMRS DNS root queries for the continent. Prior to the installation, 35 to 40 percent of the DNS query traffic was traveling outside of Africa for resolution.

The two IMRS installations increase the resiliency of the global Root Server System for Internet users across the continent. IMRS installations add root server capacity to support an expected exponential increase in Internet adoption across Africa. The IMRS installations assist in keeping Africa-sourced root Domain Name System (DNS) queries answered within the region and reduce dependence on networks and servers in other parts of the world. This resiliency improves the Internet experience for users across Africa.

The root servers also boost national and regional Internet resiliency by helping root server traffic stay local. Egypt's National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is collaborating with ICANN in the installation of the IMRS in Cairo, Egypt.

The IMRS installations will reduce the impact of potential cyberattacks on Africa, should the global Root Server System be attacked. Distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) cyberattacks work by overwhelming servers with a flood of queries. With two separate IMRS deployment locations in Africa, and higher bandwidth and data processing capacity, the risk of the Internet being impacted because of a DDOS cyberattack is significantly reduced.

Conceived by ICANN, the Coalition for Digital Africa is an alliance of like-minded organizations committed to building a robust and secure Internet infrastructure to bring more Africans online. More information is available at www.coalitionfordigitalafrica.africa.

The Coalition for Digital Africa has launched another major initiative aimed at strengthening Internet infrastructure across the continent. Undertaken in collaboration with the Association of African Universities (AAU), the project focuses on making websites, applications, and email systems within Africa's higher education institutions ready to support all domain names and email addresses.

Universal Acceptance (UA) allows all valid domain names, unique addresses like https://www.icann.org – and email addresses to be accepted, validated, stored, processed, and displayed correctly and consistently, regardless of script, language, or character length. It is a fundamental requirement for achieving a multilingual Internet, where Internet users around the world can navigate entirely in local languages and scripts.

The new project will create awareness of UA within higher education institutions across Africa. Training will be provided for these institutions to configure and make their websites, applications, and email systems UA-ready, and incorporate the concepts of UA into their curricula. This is critical to academic work in various ways, including being able to access vital content from the Internet for research and learning.

"ICANN is committed to ensuring that the Internet continues to grow safely in Africa, to bring communities, cultures, and economies together," said Sally Costerton, Interim President and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). "That's why collaboration among Internet access providers, manufacturers, content providers, and academia is so important. We must work together to support the development of Africa's digital economy."

More than 2,000 languages are spoken in Africa. Expanding the number of languages and scripts which can be used in domain names is an important step toward building a more useful and empowering Internet.

"This work truly lays the foundation for a more inclusive Internet," said Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole, Secretary General of the AAU. "By enabling the use of local languages and scripts, users here in Africa and around the world will be able to more readily access important content online – from within the continent and beyond – for academic purposes."

Stakeholders in higher education and research institutions are encouraged to participate in the work of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG), a volunteer-led group supported by ICANN. The UASG is working to achieve UA-readiness, in which Internet applications, devices, and systems treat all domain names in a consistent manner.

Conceived and initiated by ICANN, the Coalition for Digital Africa is an alliance of like-minded organizations committed to building a robust and secure Internet infrastructure to bring more Africans online. More information is available at www.coalitionfordigitalafrica.africa.

About the AAU

Created in 1967, the AAU is the voice of higher education in Africa. It aims to improve the quality of African higher education and strengthen its contribution to Africa's development by supporting the core functions of higher education institutions and facilitating critical reflection and consensus building on issues affecting higher education. The AAU is headquartered in Accra, Ghana, has a membership of more than 400 Higher Education Institutions and is the technical implementing arm of the African Union Commission (AUC) on matters related to higher education in Africa. The Association is the Coordinator for the implementation of The Higher Education Cluster of the AUC's Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25).

The Coalition for Digital Africa announced another major initiative aimed at strengthening the Internet infrastructure across the continent. This latest initiative will focus on enhancing five existing Internet exchange points (IXPs), to improve Internet access by making it faster and more affordable, thus positively impacting Internet users in the regions they are placed in.

The Coalition for Digital Africa is an initiative created by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that aims to bring more Africans online by supporting the development of a robust and secure Internet infrastructure in Africa. IXPs enable the exchange of Internet traffic locally and are essential for any region aspiring to participate fully in the global Internet economy. The initiative is supported by a grant from ICANN and will be implemented by the Internet Society (ISOC).

Using an assessment tool developed by ISOC, five IXPs will be identified based on their potential to make a high impact on the respective local and sub-regional markets. ISOC will work to create a clear plan for growth and development, tailored to the regions' interests to strengthen the Internet in Africa. A local manager will be identified and recruited for each IXP, to be responsible for implementing the action plan and achieving measurable project targets while receiving training and support from ISOC.

"Well-managed IXPs open new worlds of possibilities, with modest investment, by improving local Internet services and reducing their costs," said Sally Costerton, Interim President and CEO of ICANN, which launched the Coalition for Digital Africa in December 2022.

Research from ISOC shows that IXPs improve the end-user experience through lowering the costs of Internet access and stimulating the development of local Internet ecosystems and cross-border interconnection.

"IXPs make Internet access cheaper and more reliable. They are a critical resource in making sure the Internet is for everyone," said Andrew Sullivan, President and CEO of ISOC. "The Internet Society is grateful for this investment by ICANN that will help bring Internet access to more people throughout the continent."

Details of the IXP project were announced during a webinar on 30 January. The initiative is another in a series of initiatives aimed at improving accessibility to the Internet under the auspices of the Coalition for Digital Africa.

The Coalition for Digital Africa comprises governments, regional and international organizations, and the local Internet community. Conceived by ICANN, the Coalition for Digital Africa is an alliance of like-minded organizations committed to building robust and secure Internet infrastructure to bring more Africans online. More information is available at www.coalitionfordigitalafrica.africa.

The Coalition for Digital Africa is conducting an in-depth study of the African Domain Name System (DNS) landscape aimed at creating a comprehensive picture of the industry.

The research will leverage the methodology and results of the 2016 Africa DNS Study to examine the current realities of the DNS landscape and present an updated report. The study, which got underway on 12 December 2022, will serve as the foundation for an observatory—a platform and software—that will continuously monitor the growth, development, and emerging needs of the DNS industry in Africa.

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses in Africa's DNS ecosystem will help researchers develop recommendations on how to advance the industry to realize its full potential. The study also will document relevant data and provide analytical findings to enable ICANN and other participants in the Africa DNS industry to build a roadmap for the development of country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and generic top-level domains (gTLDs) in Africa.

The study, commissioned by ICANN and conducted by PowerSoft Africa, is the fifth major initiative to be deployed under the auspices of the Coalition for Digital Africa. All of the projects are aimed at expanding the Internet infrastructure in Africa. They include the installation of two ICANN-Managed Root Server clusters (IMRS), which will add crucial capacity to support the anticipated growth in Internet use across the continent, as well as capacity development for 10 country code top-level domains and efforts aimed at enabling people to access the Internet using their own languages and scripts.

Conceived by ICANN, the Coalition for Digital Africa is an alliance of like-minded organizations committed to building a robust and secure Internet infrastructure to bring more Africans online. More information is available at www.coalitionfordigitalafrica.africa.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today launched the Coalition for Digital Africa, an initiative aimed at expanding the Internet in Africa. Conceived by ICANN, the Coalition is an alliance of like-minded organizations committed to building a robust and secure Internet infrastructure to bring more Africans online.

Home to the youngest population on the planet, 70 percent of whom are under age 30, Africa has one of the fastest-growing Internet penetration rates in the world. Internet connectivity is growing by leaps and bounds – from 1.2 percent in 2000 to 43 percent in 2021 – driven by a digitally savvy, young, and educated urban workforce for whom adopting and using online services is second nature.

"The Coalition for Digital Africa provides an opportunity for new ways of cooperating and collaborating among diverse stakeholders," said ICANN President and CEO Gӧran Marby. "Though the Coalition was initiated by ICANN, its success is dependent on synergistic work with other organizations – be they local, regional, or international – who are united in their aim to enhance Africa's Internet infrastructure, increase the rate of Internet access, bolster Internet security, and raise the level of participation from Africa in multistakeholder policymaking development."

The Coalition will further promote innovation aimed at building technical capacity and encourage entrepreneurialism by enabling people to access the Internet using their own languages and scripts. While its official launch took place during a press conference at the 17th annual Internet Governance Forum, the Coalition already has rolled out activities in pursuit of its goals.

To make the Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure in Africa more robust so that it can cater to the rapid growth, the Coalition announced the installation of an ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) cluster in Kenya last month. Another cluster is planned for a second location in Africa next year. These clusters enable regional Internet queries to be answered within the region, rather than being dependent on networks and servers in other parts of the world. The IMRS clusters will also reduce the impact of potential cyberattacks in Africa.

"The launch of the Coalition brings us one step closer to strengthening the Internet infrastructure in Africa. The Coalition provides an important vehicle to enable a better protected DNS and more secure Internet infrastructure in Africa," said Mr. John Omo, Secretary General, African Telecommunications Union. Further noting that the establishment of the Coalition will play the important role of enhancing confidence in many online systems that are now being mainstreamed, even as the continent looks forward to growing Internet penetration in Africa from the current 43% to globally competitive levels.

The Coalition's focus is on creating meaningful connectivity throughout Africa. The Coalition will begin by working to better adapt the Internet in Africa to enable digital inclusivity and creating opportunities to spur the growth of local content and businesses. Key to that effort is Universal Acceptance, or UA, which ensures that all valid domain names and email addresses, regardless of length or script, can be used by all Internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems. With UA, people who are already connected, and those who will be connected in the future, can communicate over the Internet and access local content in their preferred languages and scripts.

One way the Coalition will tackle this is through a project led by the Association of African Universities aimed at making email and other systems within higher education UA-ready. This is an essential step toward ensuring an Internet that is both useful and empowering for all people.

"This is an important and welcome initiative for Africa. Improving the technical capacity of higher education institutions across the continent is imperative for a digital Africa," said Olusola Bandele Oyewole, Secretary General of the Association of African Universities. "We are happy to take part in this journey to give African Internet users the opportunity to be part of a truly global, inclusive, and multilingual Internet."

The Coalition for Digital Africa comprises governments, regional and international organizations, and the local Internet community. Inaugural partners of the Coalition also include the African Information Network Centre, AfRegistrar Association, Africa Top Level Domain, Africa Telecommunications Union, Association African Universities, Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération, International Telecommunication Union-Development Sector, and Network Startup Resource Center.

More information is available at www.coalitionfordigitalafrica.africa.

Internet users in Africa will soon have faster access to services on the Internet and better protection from cyberattacks. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in cooperation with its regional partners, is deploying a new ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) cluster in Nairobi, Kenya. ICANN is a global non-profit organization that coordinates the Domain Name System (DNS) and plays a key role in ensuring a global, interoperable, and secure Internet.

An IMRS cluster helps improve DNS infrastructure in any country, territory, or region of the world. It is key to stimulating Internet access and strengthening Internet stability. The IMRS cluster will reduce the impact of potential cyberattacks across Africa. One of the most common types of attacks, distributed denial-of-service attacks, works by overwhelming servers with a flood of queries or Internet traffic. IMRS clusters provide higher bandwidth and data processing capacity to alleviate some of that traffic.

"Improving users' access to the Internet in Africa, and their safety while using it, is part of ICANN's mission to help make the Internet more secure, stable, and resilient across the world," said Göran Marby, ICANN President and CEO. "The installation of this new IMRS cluster would not have been possible without the participation of the local community. We are grateful to the Kenyan government for its support and commitment to advancing Internet accessibility across Africa."

"The installation of the IMRS cluster aligns with our mission to digitally transform not only our own country but the entire continent, through regulation, partnership, and innovation. We are proud to help bring a more resilient Internet to a larger audience in Africa," said Hon. Eliud Owalo, Cabinet Secretary for Information, communications and the Digital Economy – Republic of Kenya.

Installing this IMRS cluster in Africa ensures that Internet queries can be answered within the region, which limits its dependence on networks and servers in other parts of the world. The IMRS cluster also boosts national and regional resiliency by helping root server traffic stay local.

"This project is the result of years of collaboration between the local and regional technical community, ICANN, and others. We recognize that having the IMRS cluster at the Kenya exchange point (KIXP) will improve Internet services on our continent for Internet users due to the presence of carriers from across the continent at KIXP," said Fiona Asonga, Chief Executive Officer of the Technology Service Providers of Kenya, a non-profit organization representing the interests of technology service providers in Kenya.

ICANN has been actively engaging with the African technical community since the early 2000s. It provides capacity development for many technical organizations, working closely with the African Network Operators Group and partners such as the Africa Top Level Domains Organization and African Network Information Centre.

There are five IMRS clusters in the world, two in North America, one in Europe, one in Asia, and the newest one in Africa. Three additional IMRS clusters will be installed in the next two years.

ICANN encourages qualified network operators to host IMRS instances in their country or region to serve root data. Interested parties in Africa may contact ICANN at: queries.nairobiec@icann.org.

Media Resources:
ICANN in Africa FAQ
ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) FAQ

 Internet users in Africa will soon benefit from faster access and better protection from cyberattacks, thanks to the installation of two root server clusters. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the global non-profit organization that coordinates the domain name system and plays a key role in ensuring a global, interoperable, and secure Internet, announced that it will install and manage two new ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) clusters in Africa, one of which is confirmed to be in Kenya. This is ICANN's first-of-its-kind investment in Africa.

Today, 33 percent of the population in Africa have access to the Internet. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the number of individuals using the Internet in Africa grew 23 percent between 2019 and 2021. This growth is driven by a digitally savvy, young, and educated urban workforce, for whom the adoption and consumption of online services is second nature.

Installation of the IMRS clusters will add crucial capacity to support the growth in Internet use across Africa. This, in turn, will underpin economic growth and bring opportunities for a large share of new Internet users. The clusters ensure that Internet queries from Africa can be answered within the region, and not be dependent on networks and servers in other parts of the world, thus reducing latency and improving Internet user experience in the entire region.

"Extending our infrastructure in Africa is in line with ICANN's mission to ensure that the Internet remains secure, stable and resilient across the world," said Göran Marby, ICANN President and CEO. "Adding the clusters in Africa is a key step to stimulating Internet access and to strengthening the Internet stability of the entire continent. Of course, this could only be achieved with the participation of the local community. We are grateful to the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs in Kenya for their support in establishing the IMRS cluster in their country, and for their commitment to advancing the Internet in the continent."

By enabling meaningful connectivity in Africa, ICANN – a member of the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) – also contributes to the goal of the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition initiative to bring connectivity and digital transformation to "hard-to-reach" communities.

"The Partner2Connect Digital Coalition is a game-changing opportunity for the ICT sector to take a holistic approach, catalyze new partnerships, and mobilize the resources needed to connect those who are still offline," said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau. I welcome ICANN's commitment toward Partner2Connect's goals to bring critical Internet infrastructure to Africa and advance universal connectivity and digital transformation."

Joseph Mucheru, E.G.H, Cabinet Secretary in the Kenyan ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, welcomed the investment. "This initiative is a welcome positive development both in line with the African Digital Transformation Strategy (2020-2030) and more specifically with Kenya's Digital Economy Blueprint which identifies infrastructure as one of the five key pillars necessary for the digital transformation of the economy. We therefore thank ICANN for their confidence in choosing Kenya one more time as one of the hosts of this important infrastructure that would serve not only Kenya, but the rest of Africa and the world. Implementation of this initiative will be of immense importance in accelerating the digital transformation agenda in Kenya."

The clusters will reduce the time it takes for a website to load, particularly when there are spikes in Internet usage. This will bring immediate benefits for everyday Internet users across the continent. Perhaps most important, the new IMRS clusters will reduce the impact of a potential cyberattack in the continent. Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) cyberattacks work by overwhelming servers with a flood of queries. With two separate IMRS cluster locations and higher bandwidth and data processing capacity, the risk of the Internet going down because of a cyberattack will be significantly reduced. Increased capacity lessens the impact of attacks.

This project is part of a larger ICANN initiative to expand the global presence of its roots servers by adding the two ICANN-operated and managed clusters in Africa to the existing clusters in North America, Asia and Europe.

Media Resources

ICANN in Africa FAQ

ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) FAQ