With under 2 months to go until the grand opening of the ICANN application window for New TLDs, organisations, charities and even countries are gearing up for a potentially long battle to get their chosen string to the right of the dot.

Currently there are only 21 gTLDs, but when the gates open to allow new applications there is potential for as many as 500 more – should they be approved. Amongst those who are keen to obtain their New TLD is .Africa.

Africa has attracted interest from many of the major players in the Internet space over the last few years, with both Google and Facebook now having offices based within the continent, to name but a few. Africa is being heralded the “emerging market” and their willingness to invest in their digital future seems to fit in with this idea.

In fact currently there are set to be multiple applications for the .Africa TLD when the 2012 application rolls round, meaning there is fierce competition over who will get to run the new registry. Presuming of course, that one of the applications is approved!

DotConnectAfrica is one company who have been driving the idea of .Africa hard, campaigning for support and spreading the word at ICANN events and across the web and social media. DCA have also taken the decision to include .Afriqya and .Afrique as part of their proposal, representing the Arabic and French versions of the domain name respectively.

At the recent ICANN meeting in Senegal the President of DCA, Sophia Bekele, went over the issues that would be carefully looked at to ensure the process was smooth and successful. She also went on to explain that it was vital that Africa should “not be allowed to fail at this watershed moment” and it was of the utmost importance that the country remain unscathed throughout.

Let’s hope that of the multiple applicants interested in these .Africa domains, the “best man wins”, and the TLD proves to be a success for both the registry and the country!

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