African country code Top Level Domain (TLD) registry managers met at the sidelines of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) meeting in Nairobi to grapple with issues affecting operations such as costs and the redelegation of country code domains. Most African domains cost more compared to generic domains like .com; for instance, .ke for Kenya costs US$40 while .com costs about $10, and other domains like .cd for the Democratic Republic of Congo cost $65 per year. But high costs are not the only thing affecting take-up.

"Cost is not an issue; we have to balance between the funds we get and offering sustainable services; the costs of some of the second level domains like .me.ke have been reduced, but people have not taken them up," said Joe Kiragu, administrative manager at Kenic, the .ke registry.
The issue of cost is especially complicated given that the value-added services sector has not grown to provide the expected benefits to end-users.
"There is no guarantee that the number of domains will rise when you reduce the costs; .co.za domains cost 50 South African Rand, but we did not record significant rise when the prices came down; there are issues of cybersquatters who will buy domains just because they are cheap," said Mark Elkins, a director at UniForum, the administrators of .co.za.
On redelegation, some countries are still grappling with issues of how to start the process and how long it takes. Tanzania has taken five years, and though it has finalized the process, ICANN has yet to issue a letter stating the formalization of the process.
"The process can take three months and can also take five years depending on country preparedness and investment in critical infrastructure," said Anne-Rachel Inne, ICANN liaison in Africa.
To address issues affecting the region, Kenic and the Kenya ICT Network are conducting a study that will identify operations, best practices and whether ccTLDs should be licensed by regulators as they currently are.
"The research will explore the relationship between governments and private sector, efficiency in running registry operations and best models that can be emulated," said Muriuki Mureithi, CEO of Summit Strategies, who will be conducting the study.
The study will explore some of the challenges that were identified during the regional Internet governance forums last year and seek ways to raise awareness of the need for more investment in critical Internet infrastructure.