[governance] Mali gives away free domain in hopes of outside investment

[Riaz K Tayob]

[this country, poor and restless suffers from US subsidies on cotton, 
that the WTO ruled against the US in a case with Brazil, which depress 
world prices and there is little else as a cash crop in this debt ridden 
country... prospects?]


  Mali gives away free domain in hopes of outside investment

09 Apr 2013 10:05 - Guardian Reporter 
<http://mg.co.za/author/guardian-reporter>

  *


  *



Mali has announced its little known .ML domain will be free from July, a 
move it hopes will put the country on the map.

Its domain currently ranks 177th in the world, less than half of the 
country has mobile phone coverage and only 4% of the population are 
online. But Mali could be set to become one of the world's most popular 
internet destinations after it became the first African country to give 
its domain away for free.

Mali announced on Monday that its .ML domain -- which is currently used 
by fewer than 50 active websites -- will be free from July, in a move 
which it hopes will bring much needed outside investment, and give a 
boost to Malian businesses.

"We are proud to be the first African nation to give domain names for 
free," says Moussa Dolo, general manager of Mali's Agence des 
Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication. "By providing free 
domain names to internet users worldwide, we will put Mali back on the 
map. We wish to show the rest of the world the fantastic opportunities 
our country has to offer."

The new scheme is being operated by Freedom Registry, the company which 
operates a similar .TK system for Tokelau -- the tiny cluster of coral 
atolls in the South Pacific with a population of less than 2 000 -- but 
which is now the most popular domain name in the world, with more active 
domain name registrations than Russia and China combined.

"If you look at the Tokelau experience, most registrations for .TK are 
coming from Turkey -- whose name corresponds to the letters," said Joost 
Zuurbier from Freedom Registry.

"And they are coming from many other emerging economies -- China, 
Vietnam, India -- they have a real need for domain space because other 
domains are full. .com is already taken, and if you want .cn you have to 
show your ID to the Chinese government. That's why people have been 
using .TK -- it's a free alternative, and now .ML will be just as 
attractive."

Interest in the .ML domain is expected to come from a number of 
countries, including Manila and Malaysia, attracted by the resemblance 
between the letters and their own names.

*'Good idea on paper'*
Mali's attempt to revamp its online presence comes as its economy has 
been devastated by an ongoing conflict, in which an international 
military intervention has been battling al-Qaeda-linked insurgents who 
seized control of the country's north a year ago.

But some questioned whether the move could really make a difference in a 
country where internet access and disposable incomes remain low.

"I think the .ML domain free registration process is a good idea on 
paper and could shed positive light on Mali which is sorely needed," 
said Tim Katlic, founder and editor of/oAfrica.com/ 
<http://oafrica.com/>, which tracks internet progress in African 
countries, and reports that Mali is experiencing steady online growth. 
"But in reality, I don't think it will pan out as expected, since Mali's 
internet users aren't ready for content creation -- they have limited 
desktop usage, lack of income to afford web hosting even if domain is 
free, heavy reliance on international social media sites instead of 
local ones."

But Freedom Registry said that Mali would also attract extra revenue 
from the move, with advertising income from domains which lapse split 
between the company and the Malian authorities.

"Currently we add about 20% to the GDP of Tokelau, and although it is a 
small country, Mali is much bigger and the potential is huge," said 
Zubier. "But it's not only about the money -- to Mali it's the 
infrastructure we provide."

"In the past countries needed to invest heavily in equipment to increase 
their internet traffic, but now it all exists in the cloud -- so it's a 
service that we can provide for them at no charge in Mali. It's a 
win-win situation where everyone in Mali will get their domain name for 
free, internationally people can register domains in Mali for free, and 
Mali doesn't have to invest but can still get a lot of international 
business." -- Guardian News and Media 2013

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20130409/9209e849/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 45395 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20130409/9209e849/attachment.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t