[NCSG-PC] African DNS market Study NCSG comment / Call for comments

[Rafik Dammak]

Hi all,

Dororthy kindly drafted a NCSG comment ( https://docs.google.com/document/d/
1ee3gKApsPyKqDE70GSmTjxbxl0DejNLV3Jfry4dAt1Y/edit.  ) about the African DNS
Market Study (
https://www.icann.org/public-comments/africa-dns-market-study-2017-03-11-en
)

While the dealdine is for the 5th May, I already sent a request to the
ICANN staff telling them that we are going to make a late submission and
asking for extension. I would like to ask members and in particular those
from Africa to go through the draft in google doc for review and comments.
We should submit this comment by next week after NCSG Policy Committee
endorsment based on members feebdack here and in the document.
It will be great of you can make comments and any suggestion for edits by
Tuesday 9th May so we can resolve them before submission.

Best,

Rafik


===================================================

Draft 2016 African Domain Name System Market Study
<https://www.icann.org/public-comments/africa-dns-market-study-2017-03-11-en>
(ADNSMS)

The NCSG welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Draft 2016 African
Domain Name Market Study carried out by a consortium led by the South
Africa Communications Forum.

Methodology

This  is a first attempt to present a snapshot of the African Domain Name
Market.  The report sets out clearly the data challenges that hampered
analysis in conducting this baseline survey.  The study indicates that poor
response levels (22% to the online survey) could have been affected by the
length of the questionnaire, and the difficulty in getting responses for
the full set of six specifically targeted questionnaires registrar,
regulator etc per country. The report’s authors note that the survey
questionnaire could have been streamlined.  A Country DNS success index was
developed by the authors to rank the health of African DNS markets.

Comment:  1. It would be good if the report made reference to other
criteria for benchmarking used in other regions to support the choice of
the criteria used in the DNS success index.

              2.  Full discussion of the methodological deficiencies and
lessons learnt should be included in an annex to support the next iteration
of the (ADNSMS)


Section 5 - Africa Rising

Comment:


   1.

   In order to make cross-country comparisons more realistic it may be
   useful to look at the size of a given country’s economy and population in
   comparison to its existing DNS market.  This is done for webpages on pages
   85 & 86.


2.  Much of the information in this section can be found in other sources
and could be put in annex.  The slimmed down version included in the main
report could focus on ‘value addition’ to the main arguments and make use
of the excellent summative graphics some of which are striking in their
originality.

Section 6  Key Features of the African DNS Market

Comment:


   1.

   This section provides  useful background information but it could
   benefit from some more rigor in making its economic arguments.  These
   include the analysis of demand (section 6.3) and  the valuation of the
   African DNS industry (section 6.5) . In the first instance more specific
   cases should be given to support the arguments given for changes that would
   increase demand e.g. improved local hosting infrastructure. In the second
   instance valuing simply on the prices that have been fixed for service does
   not take into account the multiplier effects within the economy. Given the
   advice to drop prices and the lack of evidence of the resulting increase in
   uptake in all country markets, the current approach could result in reduced
   valuation. This is just to point out that the approach may benefit from a
   review.



   1.

   The detailed information on certain countries is one of the best
   features of this study.  It may be useful to present a country profile for
   each African country, a kind of summary flash card that would allow us to
   appreciate where information is lacking and which indicators will need to
   be tracked in each context.


Section 7.  Analysis of Domain Name Uptake  Across the region

                    (see prior comment on methodology)

Comment:


   1.

   Please see above request for country profiles for all countries



   1.

   The table presenting the rankings in section 7.2 should be repositioned
   as it is currently split between 2 pages.


Section 8  Key success factors registries

Section 9  - Growth Outlook

The part of this study that needs to be given more substance relates to the
business models that will grow the African Domain Name System Market.  It
is important that the study includes an in-depth treatment of this linked
to key factors at the country context.

The observatory is clearly necessary but the terms of reference for the
study not only focused on the observation of what is happening but the
deliberate intervention to speed  growth.  The study lists out factors but
these are not put in the form of business models adapted to specific
starting points.


“The goal of this study is to identify and define the strengths and
weaknesses in the industry ecosystem within the Africa region and develop
recommendations on how to advance the industry and bring it closer to the
opportunities available.”  From Section 1 in the ICANN request for comment.

Overall the study is an impressive piece of work given the void it comes to
fill. It should inspire many others to systematic research on these issues.
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