As the African Union Commission launched the DotAfrica domain on 10 March, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) called for public comment on a draft 2016 African Domain Name System Market Study aimed at identifying and defining the strengths and weaknesses of the African DNS industry ecosystem.

Commissioned in March 2016 and managed by a consortium led by South Africa Communications Forum (SACF), selected in 2015 to carry it out for ICANN, the study is to help develop recommendations on how to advance the industry by bringing it closer to available opportunities.

According to an overview, the study will seek to achieve its set objectives by investigating the current state of the Internet and the domain name industry in Africa.

It will also define best practices that have made an impact in domain name market growth and look at the broader ecosystem of the Internet infrastructure and online services to describe the impact of such elements on the overall evolution of the domain name industry.

Furthermore, it will describe the business potential in the domain name industry in Africa and provide suggestions on how to develop the industry and what business models can be adopted in the entire industry chain.

The document is currently in its draft format. Input from the community, expected to be sent by email to africadnsstudy@icann.org, will be incorporated into the draft report before the final study report is developed.

The public comment proceeding opened on Saturday 11 March and will close on 5 May, while the staff report is due 19 May.

The draft study is part of key projects identified in the revised 2016-2020 ICANN Africa Strategic Plan, some of which include a study on the business feasibility of the growing DNS industry in Africa; and the need to commission the creation of an observatory to develop new indices for DNS industry growth within Africa.