African Internet Service Providers Association
Type: | non-profit |
Industry: | Internet |
Founded: | 2 August 2001 |
Founder(s): | ISPA, Eric Osiakwan |
Headquarters: | Sandton |
Country: | South Africa |
Email: | info[at]afrispa.org |
Website: | AfrISPA, AfrISPA |
Key People | |
William Stucke, Chairman Lanre Ajayi, Vice Chairman |
AfrISPA (The African Internet Service Providers Association) is a non-profit association of African ISP associations.[1] AfrISPA helps formulate policies regarding the Internet in Africa; provides operational support to service providers through business and funding opportunities; and works for the development of human resources, information propagation, Internet awareness, and usage.[2] AfrISPA is working to develop Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in Africa to reduce the dependency of the continent on other regions for Internet access.[3] The association works to promote educational opportunities in the field of technology and Internet. It publishes relevant industry data for Members.[4] Currently, they have more than 25 IXPs.[5]
AfrISPA is a partner with AfriNIC.[6]
In response to ongoing debates on Internet Governance, in 2004, AfrISPA clearly articulated their support for ICANN and AfriNIC. They did not want any kind of change in the responsibilities of ICANN or AfriNIC. AfrISPA is concerned about cyber-crime, spam, child pornography, hate-oriented content, and the high costs of bandwidth in developing countries and wants these issues to be given more attention, though it does not believe that ICANN is the venue for such activity. They recommend that the bodies more clearly aligned with social aspects of the Internet do more to address those issues.[7]
Members
Current members of AfrISPA are:[8][9]
- ISPA from South Africa
- TESPOK from Kenya
- UISPA from Uganda
- GISPA from Ghana
- ISPAN from Nigeria
- FAIR from Mauritius
- TISPA from Tanzania
- BISPA from Botswana
- AFIM from Mali
- MISPA from Malawi
- AFAIB from Benin
- ISPA-DRC from Democratic Republic of the Congo
External Links
- AfrISPA report on African regulatory Index 2005.