Africa Gets Its Own Domain Name

The African Union has launched its own continent-wide domain name, .africa. The domain name will become available to businesses in the next few months, and will require an application. The chair commissioner of the African Union said that .africa has given the continent “its digital identity”, adding that people could now reach international business opportunities with ease. It is part of an initiative to increase internet penetration by 10% in the next twelve months in sub-Saharan Africa, where penetration is very low. The South African-based ZA Central Registry will control the use of .africa. The organisation's CEO has said that the current costs of registering a website in Africa are too high, so a key objective of the new domain would be to offer “cut-price” rates. 

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