AfriNIC to engage mobile phone companies

After witnessing rapid growth in mobile phone usage in Africa, Africa Network Information Center (AfriNIC) plans to work with GSM companies on issues of Internet development.

Due to a lack of basic Internet infrastructure on the continent, mobile companies are offering data options on their existing infrastructure, said Adiel Akplogan, AfriNIC CEO.

"[What] we are seeing in mobile phone growth is impressive," said Akplogan. "We have seen how quickly people have adopted the technology and how quickly the mobile service business has grown."

The evolution of mobile equipment and business has played an important role in Internet development in Africa and marketing the continent as a whole, according to Akplogan. The world's major companies now know there is money in mobile business and they pay attention. ISPs (Internet service providers) are even losing business to mobile phone companies that have invested in extensive infrastructure and data options, she noted.

According to GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) Africa, the African arm of the international GSM Association, mobile-phone subscriber base is expected to jump by 20 percent to 316 million by the end of 2008.

With the projected growth, Akplogan said AfriNIC plans to involve mobile companies in making provisions for IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) infrastructure that will easily support data over mobile networks.

Networks running on IPv4 can go directly to AfriNIC for allocation, said Akplogan. With allocation, companies can use public IP addresses, which will improve Africa's visibility over the Internet.

AfriNIC has already worked with four GSM companies in South Africa, including MTN and Vodafone, and hopes to increase the number of companies participating in policy processes.