There’s finally some good news for African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC), Africa’s steward of internet resources.
An application has been submitted to the Bankruptcy Division of the Mauritius Supreme Court to end the organization’s receivership and officially release Receiver Dabee Gowtamsingh from his duties.
The Supreme Court, having issued the order on October 29, 2025 has set the hearing date for receivership termination for November 26, 2025.
Crucially, any AfriNIC member seeking to intervene must file their application with the Mauritius Supreme Court for permission to participate in the lawsuit by November 12, 2025. The application for termination was jointly submitted by both AfriNIC and the Receiver.
2 years ago, AfriNIC was placed under receivership by the same court following a case filed against it by Cloud Innovation, an IP address management company.
Cloud Innovation’s Calls for AfriNIC’s Dissolution
The RIR (Region Internet Registry) has been at loggerheads since 2020 with Cloud Innovation, a non-African, Hong Kong-based firm. Cloud Innovation is demanding the dissolution of AfriNIC and the establishment of a new RIR for the region.
The Hong Kong firm has claimed that AfriNIC cannot manage the continent’s IP resources, and action is required to restore trust in governance and ensure the sustainability of the region’s digital infrastructure.
Calls to dissolve AfriNIC started when the registry alleged that Cloud Innovation was misusing its allocated IP address blocks, which constituted a breach of its Registration Service Agreement (RSA).
Specifically, AfriNIC alleged three violations: the IP addresses were not used for the initially intended purposes, Cloud Innovation provided inconsistent usage records, and the majority of the IP address space was utilized outside of Africa.
In response, Cloud Innovation filed a suit with the Supreme Court of Mauritius. Ahead of the court hearing, AfriNIC took decisive action by revoking Cloud Innovation’s membership and moving to confiscate its IP address blocks.
Eventually, Cloud Innovation won its case in March 2023, leading to AfriNIC’s receivership. The Supreme Court of Mauritius explicitly defined the receiver’s role as maintaining the organization’s “status quo” and preserving its value, with a key mandate to oversee the election of a new board and CEO.
AfriNIC Elections
Troubles seemed to have worsened in June this year when a dispute over unverified proxy votes led to the cancellation of the board election. However, in September, an election was held successfully, and a new board was elected.
With the termination of receivership now on course, Africans will be hoping for good news after the November 26 hearing and a more stable future for its main custodian of internet resources.
