The Africa Internet Summit (AIS) is an annual regional multi-stakeholder ICT conference that brings together Africa's ICT business and technical community to discuss regional and global ICT issues and challenges. The 2023 edition of AIS (AIS’23) will take place from 26 to 30 September 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa. AIS’23 is organised by the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG) and is hosted by the ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA).
The Africa Internet Summit 2023 will bring together a diverse range of stakeholders, including policymakers, regulators, technical experts, civil society organizations, and private sector representatives, to discuss and shape the development of the Internet in Africa. Through this multi-stakeholder approach, the AIS meetings help to foster collaboration and partnership among different actors, which is essential for promoting inclusive, sustainable, and resilient internet development in Africa.
AIS’23 will provide presentations, tutorials, training sessions, and workshops on various technical topics related to Internet development in Africa. This helps to build the capacity of stakeholders, especially from underrepresented groups, to participate meaningfully in Internet Governance processes. Bringing together stakeholders from different sectors and regions, providing opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing, and collaboration to foster partnerships and build coalitions to address common challenges and achieve shared goals. The meeting will contribute to the development of a vibrant and inclusive community of Internet stakeholders in Africa. This community event provides a platform for ongoing dialogue, engagement, and cooperation, which is essential for sustaining progress and overcoming emerging challenges.
Localhost
The ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) is a statutory body that manages and regulates the registration of .za domain names in South Africa. It is responsible for administering the .za domain name space, developing and implementing policies for .za domain names, accrediting and regulating .za domain name registrars, and promoting the use of .za domain names. ZADNA is governed by a Board of Directors, which is appointed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, and plays a critical role in ensuring that the .za domain name space is secure, stable, and accessible to all South Africans.
Organiser
AfNOG is a forum for the exchange of Internet-related technical information. The forum engages in issues like the implementation of new networks through community participation. Workshops and meetings allow network service providers to gather and discuss on how to provide a stable service to end users. The first AfNOG meeting was held in May 2000 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Partners
AF* are organizations that constitute the African Internet ecosystem. The idea to set up the AF* regrouping organisations supporting Internet development in Africa dates back to December 1998. A meeting held in Cotonou, Benin was organised where African Internet pioneers debated on the theme of Internet Governance in Africa. This was the first global meeting to discuss Internet governance issues in the African region.
At this meeting, Dr Nii Quaynor, highlighted the need to set up technical institutions to support Internet growth and to unite the African Technical community. These organisations today constitute the ecosystem of the African Internet. They cover the following areas: Numbers (AFRINIC), Security (AfricaCERT), Community and Policy (AIG, AfGWG), Capacity building (All AF*), Research and Education (AfREN), Infrastructure (AFPIF), Names (AfTLD). Other organisations in Africa are emerging within the ecosystem.
ZA Registry Consortium (Pty) Ltd (ZARC) operates as the trusted Registry Operator for South Africa's co.za, net.za, org.za, and web.za second-level domains (SLDs). ZARC prides itself in offering proudly South African, innovative and homegrown domain name technologies to drive sound SLD management and growth. Together with its channel partners (accredited registrars) and its oversight body (ZADNA), it is able to employ internationally benchmarked technical and related standards to ensure that the SLDs are managed efficiently and with integrity. ZARC has a number of value-added services lined up for launch over the coming months so stay connected by accessing www.registry.net.za
The Af*
African Network Operators Group
AfNOG is a forum for the exchange of Internet-related technical information. The forum engages in issues like the implementation of new networks through community participation. Workshops and meetings allow network service providers to gather and discuss on how to provide a stable service to end users. The first AfNOG meeting was held in May 2000 in Cape Town, South Africa.
African Network Information Centre
AFRINIC is the Regional Internet Registry for Africa. Based in Mauritius, this not-for-profit organisation, is responsible for the distribution and management of Internet numbers (IPv4, IPv6 addresses, and autonomous system numbers) for Africa and the Indian Ocean. Serving more than 2, 200 organisations in the public, private, and academic sectors, AFRINIC contributes to the development of the African Internet through the equitable distribution of Internet numbers, technical support, and capacity building of African engineers and policymakers in the field of Internet technology and governance.
African Research and Education Networking
AfREN is a forum for building an all-inclusive African Research and Education community that addresses collectively issues like collaboration, access to bandwidth and other critical resources, capacity building and content development. afREN brings together national and regional RENs from the continent.
AFRICA Computer Emergency Response Team
The Africa CERT program is an initiative to fight cybercrime in Africa. AFRINIC, AfNOG, and the Africa Asia Forum on Network Research & Engineering have been actively involved in promoting and supporting the CERT program following the Declaration of Kigali to create a Computer Emergency Response Team. CERT Training sessions were held during afNOG-11/AFRINIC-12 in Rwanda, AFRINIC-13 in South Africa, afNOG-12/AFRINIC-14 in Tanzania, AFRINIC-15 in Cameroon and afNOG-13/AFRINIC-16 in The Gambia.
Africa Top Level Domains Organisation
AfTLD is the ICANN recognised representative of Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) managers from the African region. AfTLD was established and registered in 2002 to act as a focal point for African ccTLD managers in coordinating, formulating, developing and presenting a unified approach to issues related to the Domain Name System. AfTLD also provides a platform for technical capacity development, information exchange, ccTLD Best practices and Research & Development.
AFRINIC Government Working Group
The AfGWG was set up at the initiative of AFRINIC to work with African governments and regulators to address general Internet Governance challenges in Africa.
African Peering and Interconnection Forum
AfPIF is a multi-stakeholder platform that addresses Interconnection, Peering, and Traffic Exchange issues in Africa and provides participants with insights and opportunities which help grow Internet infrastructure and services in Africa.
African Registrar
Afregistrar initive is an association of all ICANN Accredited Registrars based in Africa. AfRegistrar aims to promote the development and growth of domain name registration services in Africa. Its mandate includes: Promotion of African TLDs, Capacity Building, Policy Development, and Collaboration among domain name industry stakeholders.
For more information on AIS'23
Please read the Concept Note.