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AFRINIC is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa and the Indian Ocean and currently serves 56 economies across its service region. In 2023, AFRINIC achieved significant milestones in its activities despite the ongoing constraints of operating without a CEO and quorate Board throughout the year.

The year was quite significant as it marked the final year of the 2021 - 2023 Strategic Plan.

We operated within three core pillars, each aimed at delivering value to AFRINIC’s members and stakeholders:

Services to Members

  • Ensuring responsible stewardship of Internet number resources.
  • Delivering accurate registry services.
  • Developing and delivering products and services for members.
  • Engaging with members to build a global, open, stable, and secure Internet.

Building the Internet Community

  • Developing and delivering world-class registry products and services.
  • Building capacity for best-practice Internet operations across the technical community.
  • Keeping the community informed about industry developments and developments at AFRINIC.

Strengthening Services

  • Sustainable development of the regional Internet community, industry, and infrastructure.
  • Providing a stable and secure technical infrastructure to support AFRINIC operations and services.

Achievements in 2023

Below is a highlight of some of the key achievements and initiatives accomplished during 2023:

Membership Growth and Address Allocations: In 2023, AFRINIC welcomed 187 new members, bringing the total to 2,290.


We also issued:
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IPv4 addresses
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IPv6 prefixes
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Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs)

At the end of 2023, AFRINIC had 1,174,405 IPv4 addresses; equivalent to 0.07% of a /8 IPv4 prefix.

Service Adoption and Member Support

Internet Routing Registry

1691 resource members, representing 73.8% of our total membership were actively using our Internet Routing Registry (IRR) to secure their prefixes.
 

IRR Usage

Resource Public Key Infrastructure

555 resource members were actively using the Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) system to protect their resources against Route Leaks and Prefix Hijacking.

RPKI Usage

Service Level Commitment

The Member Services Department handled 26,766 support tickets, with 86.83% of them responded to within the Service Level Commitment (SLC) of 48 hours.

Service Level Commitment

Capacity-Building Initiatives

E-learning Platform

AFRINIC's e-learning platform attracted 4,892 enrollments from 87 countries across 15 courses (available for any to register for and take at their pace), achieving a median Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 43.7.

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Number of courses
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Enrollments
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Median Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Zero to Certified IPv6 in 21 Days

AFRINIC also organised two cohorts of the "Zero to Certified IPv6 in 21 Days" training, which saw the participation of 119 participants from 40 countries.

DO Support Programs

With our Deployment Operationalisation (DO) programs, focusing on IPv6, IRR, and RPKI deployment, we helped 42 member-organisations achieve 69 deployment KPIs with an impressive median NPS of 89.

IPv6 Certification Program

AFRINIC has been offering an IPv6 certification program since 2017, known as certi::6. This Program saw an 84% increase in participation, with 85 candidates taking part in exams in 2023.

Policy Development

AFRINIC's commitment to policy development is evidenced by the RPKI AS0 Policy Proposal currently under implementation and three policies awaiting Board ratification.
The RPD mailing list counts approximately 1,000 subscribers, who under normal circumstances engage in discussion to create policies governing IP resources allocation and management by AFRINIC.

Engagement Activities and Collaborations

Partnering with Key stakeholders

In 2023, AFRINIC actively engaged with partners in various events, including the WSIS Forum, Transform Africa Summit 2023, and the Cybersecurity Forum in Libya. Collaborations with regulatory authorities such as MACRA and BOCRA, along with participation in regional Internet Governance Forums and ICT events, showcased AFRINIC's commitment to shaping policies and enhancing Internet infrastructure.

IPv6 advancement in the Region

Such partnerships helped us organise 3 workshops with governments to support IPv6 implementation in Africa as per ATU's resolution 180 aimed at advancing IPv6 deployment in Africa while also collaborating with the ATU on a project to develop and certify 100 government engineers to confidently deploy IPv6 in their countries.

Helping IGFs and SIGs

Our collaboration with the NRO and ICANN enabled us to organise 17 onsite activities in 2023 with members and the Internet community in the region.

AFRINIC Webinar Series

AFRINIC organised nine impactful webinars with over 2,500 participants overall and achieved a median Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 57.5.

To learn more about our webinars, please follow this link: AFRINIC Webinar Series

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Participants
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Median Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Technical Operations and Security Measures

Proper allocation and management of Internet Resources rely heavily on the stability and availability of technical infrastructure. AFRINIC's IT team ensured that services were operational to better serve our members and the community.

  • Despite technical challenges during the year, the organisation maintained critical services' availability at 99.98% on average.
  • Enhancements to technical infrastructure included improved critical services like RDAP, WHOIS, RPKI, MyAFRINIC portal, routing registry, and DNS.
  • RDAP now operates 10 times faster than before while serving shorter responses.
  • Additionally, AFRINIC addressed RRDP issues by shifting some services to a CDN, with plans to extend the CDN implementation to other public-facing critical services like WHOIS and RDAP soon.
  • The organisation also upgraded obsolete equipment, established peering with NAPAFRICA, decommissioned one data centre, and redesigned another making it more reliable.

With all these improvements, we have been able to increase the processing capacity of our servers by 50% without any expense in equipment.

Wrap up and Way Forward

Despite the challenges, AFRINIC has demonstrated unwavering dedication and innovation, achieving significant milestones in advancing Internet infrastructure, policy development, and member support in its service region. Throughout 2023, our relentless efforts and proactive initiatives have reinforced our pivotal role in shaping the digital landscape of the region.

As we embark on the journey into 2024, AFRINIC remains steadfast in its commitment to serve our esteemed members and stakeholders. The continuous support and collaboration from our members and partners cannot be over emphasised. Together, we can overcome these challenges and further propel Africa's Internet ecosystem towards greater resilience, inclusivity, and growth.

Let us join hands in championing the advancement of Internet connectivity, fostering innovation, and ensuring the prosperity of the digital future in Africa. Your support is vital in driving positive change and realising the collective vision of a thriving Internet landscape for all.

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