In opening ceremonies today, ICANN President and CEO Rod Beckstrom and ICANN Board Chair Steve Crocker joined with others in calling for greater Internet access for Africans.
"In ten years, the number of [African] Internet users has grown 25-fold," said Beckstrom. "That is rapid growth, yet it still represents only 11.5 percent of the African population." Beckstrom added, "ICANN's global community is already taking steps to help needy applicants apply for new gTLDs. A joint working group has spent many hours working on a proposal that the Board will consider this week on how best to provide that support."To see this speech in full, and comments from Board Chair Steve Crocker, watch the videos here .
The announcement was sourced from ICANN website .
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