Domain name registrations in Nigeria has exceeded 4.33 million.
The milestone cemented Nigeria’s position as the second largest market in Africa.
This achievement was spotlighted in the latest Africa Domain Name Industry Report, commissioned by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in partnership with PowerSoft Africa.
The detailed study of 54 African countries found Nigeria had climbed to second place in the continent’s domain name industry, just behind South Africa, highlighting Nigeria’s increasing importance in the digital space. As of November 2023, African country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) had 4.33 million registrations.
There are also 1.4 million generic top-level domain (gTLD) registrations by African entities, showing strong growth in the region’s digital economy. The ICANN report, presented by the Coalition for Digital Africa at ICANN 80 in Kigali, Rwanda, also noted the challenges facing the continent.
High internet access costs remain a barrier, with the average African spending about 4% of their monthly income on 1GB of data, double the global affordability target.
Despite these issues, domain names in Africa are projected to grow at an average annual rate of 12.4%, offering significant opportunities for local providers to expand their services. The report also noted that over 1.1 million kilometers of terrestrial and submarine fiber cables interconnect the continent, improving cross-border communications and internet access.
However, it also noted that web content and domain hosting are concentrated in just a few countries, highlighting the need for more widespread and localized internet services.
For Nigeria, the study emphasized the country’s strong digital infrastructure. Like South Africa and Kenya, Nigeria benefits from several undersea cables. Its country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is well managed and supported by six Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and multiple data centers.
Get instant and latest news updates via Our WhatsApp Community or Google News online channel.