Get set for the .africa gold rush

South African Mike Silber, head of legal and commercial affairs at fibre operator Liquid Telecom, is a board member at ICANN. He says .africa presents a "really interesting opportunity for people on the continent to express their identity through something that is uniquely African".

Getting a .africa domain will by no means be essential for doing business in Africa, but many businesses will want to secure one because of the perceived prestige associated with having a distinctly African domain, Silber says.

But the creation of the new top-level domain will give companies pause for thought. Do they need to register .africa domains? What about cyber squatters purchasing their brands preemptively and holding them to ransom?

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