AFRINIC
 | |
| Type: | Non-Government, Non-Profit |
| Industry: | Registry |
| Founded: | 2000-2004 |
| Headquarters: | 11th Floor Raffles Tower Cybercity |
| Employees: | >50 |
| Website: | Afrinic.net |
| Key People | |
| Adiel Akplogan, CEO Viv Padayatchy, Chair | |
AfriNIC is the acronym used for African Network Information Center, which is the Regional Internet Registry of Africa.
Overview
All the information concerning African registered resources and domain names can be found within the AfriNIC Whois database; all this information and the AfriNIC database is available to the public for transparency purposes, but it is under copyright.[1]
The Creation of AfriNIC
AfriNIC was recognized by ICANN as a functioning regional registry and information center in 2004. Before the creation of AfriNIC all IP Addresses were managed by APNIC, ARIN, and RIPE NCC.[2] The African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) is a non-governmental and not-for-profit membership based organization. Its main role is to serve as the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for the African region. [3]
AfriNIC's mission is: ‘’"To provide professional and efficient distribution of Internet number resources to the African Internet community, to support Internet technology usage and development across the continent and strengthen Internet self-governance in Africa by encouraging a participative policy development."’’ [4]
Membership is open to anybody following the registration process. Its policy development process is open to anybody without any specific requirements. [5]
ICANN, IANA and AfriNIC
ICANN recognized the provisions of AfriNIC in 2004, and the registry began operating in April, 2005, when it received the first allocation of numbering resources, IP Addresses and Autonomous System Numbers for Africa. Its accreditation made it the 5th RIR Regional Internet Registry, joining ARIN, APNIC, RIPE NCC, and LACNIC. [6] IANA, through an agreement with ICANN, allocates blocks of number resources to all five RIRs, which enables effective communication between networks and Internet traffic all around the world.
How to become a member of AfriNIC
In order to request for resources from AfriNIC database, one should first become a member. All new members must submit a specific request template, after reading the policies. The following steps should be followed:
- Check whether you are eligible to become an AfriNIC member;
- Submit the appropriate request template and register using the MyAfriNIC portal;
- Agree and sign the RSA (Service agreement);
- The documents must be sent to new-member[at]afrinic.net ;
- Any future requests will be carefully analyzed and evaluated. [7]