< style="font-family: arial;">Internet in Africa to become more accessible and more affordable.

African internet service providers (ISPs) struggling to survive in Internet Protocol registries based in America and Europe can hold their breath until April 2005, when the African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) will be fully recognised and operational.

'Hold their breath' - because AfriNIC, the first registry to exclusively serve the African market, will not ask them to justify why they should be allocated IP addresses.

According to Adiel Akplogan, AfriNIC Chief Executive Director, when African ISPs apply for IP addresses from other Regional Internet Registries(RIRs), they are expected to justify why they need a specific allocation. He says that in most cases, the other registries do not necessarily appreciate the internet terrain in Africa.

“The minimum number of IP addresses allocated by registries elsewhere is 4000, if an ISP applies, they must justify they can utilize or have the ability to grow and utilise the numbers. AfriNIC is going to allow ISPs to get IP addresses that they want. If they say minimum is 1000 or 500, thats good,” Akplogan says.

An IP address is a number given to every computer that can identify the source of information if sent to another computer. The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for distributing IP addresses but has delegated some of its functions to RIRs.

Currently there are four RIRs – RIPE, which serves the Middle East, Europe and many North African countries; LACNIC, serving Latin America and the Caribbean; ARIN allocates IP addresses in North America ; and APNIC serves the Asia Pacific region.

AfriNIC is expected to receive recognition from ICANN by next April.

Once AfriNIC is recognised, it is expected that all ISPs dealing with other RIRs will be transferred to it. By then, it is expected that AfriNIC will have put in place the necessary financial and technical foundations.

Asked whether the transfer will disrupt operations given the poor infrastructure in some countries, Akplogan insisted that the transfer will not have any impact on the end users.

Akplogan was also adamant that the world's newest RIR will be properly financed and sustainable.

AfrNIC will have a unique hosting plan in that the organisation will be incorporated in Mauritius and its headquarters will be in that same island state, but the main server will be hosted in South Africa. Egypt is responsible for maintaining a back-up system and Ghana has undertaken the task of training users.

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Once fully recognised, Akplogan says the organisation will raise money from membership and sale of services to ISPs. Any profits will be channeled back to community education programs.

In conclusion, Akplogan emphasized that AfriNIC will not be the ICANN of Africa but will be woven into the fabric of the African Information Society.