By Kester Omu
The African Network Information Center (AFRINIC) in collaboration with the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA), will in Lagos host hundreds of key players in the African and global Internet industry sector at the 27th public policy meeting of AFRINIC, regional Internet registry for Africa
The event dubbed AFRINIC 27, will be a platform for technocrats and business to discuss policies, trends, resources and challenges in growing Internet for sustainable development in Africa and the Indian Ocean Region.
The event, which is held annually consists of keynote speeches, policy discussions, seminars, workshops, tutorials and other forums for sharing ICT knowledge within the African region. The 2016 edition was held in Mauritius and was attended by over 250 delegates from 48 countries around the world. Registration for the event is ongoing through the meeting website http://bit.ly/2vdgM3P.
Whereas Internet penetration in Africa has grown from 11% to 28.6% in just 5 years, despite challenges such as cyber security, it is lower when compared to the rest of the world. Measurable parameters such IP address allocations show that the continent is quite behind. In April 2017, AFRINIC entered the depletion phase of fourth version of IP Addresses (IPv4) way behind of the other four continental regional Internet registries who are already distributing the newest version IPv6 in earnest. Please read the event concept note at http://bit.ly/2uylwiv.
