BOCRA decries low uptake of .bw domain
Pauline Dikuelo | Thursday June 4, 2015 18:00
Speaking at the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) media workshop held in Gaborone this week, Director of Technical Services, Bathopi Luke, raised concern over the low uptake of the domain.
“The .bw domain extinguishes a business as a Botswana based one from many other businesses on the Internet. It also allows a business to brand itself as Botswana based, which might be an advantage because our country is associated with good things like peace and also rated as one of the fastest growing economies,” he argued.
He noted that the popular .com domain could be disadvantageous, especially when an investor wants to trace a business because it means it could be anywhere in the world, but with the .bw domain one can easily tell that it is in Botswana.
BOCRA Chief Executive Officer, Thari Pheko said communication is a highly developing sector with new technologies and concepts being discovered rapidly. “Currently, we are in the big data era where the world is frantically working towards creating an information society. A society in which nations will outcompete one another on the basis of the ability of their citizens to access, retrieve, use and store data,” he said.
Pheko added that the shift towards heavy dependence on data has given rise to Over The Top (OTTs) operators that are redefining the way traditional networks operate and make business.
He mentioned that communication is a highly evolving sector with new technologies and concepts being discovered rapidly, which makes it a challenging and exciting occupation.
Other interventions that BOCRA is engaged in this year include stimulation of communication through future liberalisation, introduction of a licensing framework, which will introduce new players.
They are also currently auditing the billing system of the mobile operators to determine whether they are charging what BOCRA has approved. BOCRA is also doing another cost-pricing model.
The workshop addressed issues of costs and quality of service, cyber security and digital broadcasting. It intended to facilitate mutual understanding between the media and BOCRA around regulatory issues in general.