Who speaks for Africa’s Internet? NRS, AfriNIC and the .nrs option at ICANN

Investigation 2/5African Dialogue on Internet Governance

The Number Resource Society seeks mandates from African network operators. In August 2025, a Moroccan law firm found no company under its name in the records it checked. At ICANN, a Seychelles company controlled by Lu Heng has proposed the same 3 letters for a domain aimed at publishers.

In Enugu, Nigeria, the Number Resource Society invited network operators to think of Internet addresses as capital. Its account of the 20 June 2026 meeting, promoted in a public LinkedIn post, points readers from a seminar on the value of their addresses to a more consequential decision. An operator can give the society a power of attorney to represent it in disputes and debates about the rules that govern those addresses.

Months later, the same initials appeared in ICANN’s application database. The applicant was Innovation Service Limited, a Seychelles company that lists Lu Heng as a director, material shareholder and ultimate controller. Its filing gives the initials a different expansion: “News, Reviews, and Stories.”

One application, 2 possible names

.larus is the original string. .nrs is its designated replacement, not a separate application. Innovation Service filed 10 original strings. The Seychelles filing explains the applicant’s African regional classification; it does not make the applications a continental initiative. The initial contention list includes 7 of the 10 original strings, but not .larus. ICANN allows an eligible replacement even when the original has no identical rival. The choice is binding, and ICANN does not require an explanation for the switch. ICANN’s published schedule puts confirmation on 17 November 2026. An active entry in the application database does not establish which string was chosen, much less that ICANN has approved or delegated it.

The choice is commercially meaningful. The .larus filing says the applicant would use LARUS’s standing in the IPv4 business and relationships with Internet providers and hosting companies to sell domains. The .nrs filing instead names publishers, review platforms and creators, with outreach to media organizations to secure early registrants. It presents .nrs as generic and open. Its answer to question 164 says the applicant does not expect the label itself to make a domain seem more trustworthy. That is the applicant’s assessment, not ICANN’s finding. .news already exists as a separate extension.

The public question is why this particular alternative was chosen. Lu already presents the Number Resource Society and BTW Media as parts of his wider work. The society operates at nrs.help, under a registry operated by Innovation Service. A .nrs registry could give the company a valuable name that those audiences recognize and could serve the publishing market it describes. Neither filing identifies the Number Resource Society or BTW Media as a customer or partner for .nrs. Sharing initials and using a .help address do not prove a secret agreement or a plan to deceive. A contract to run a domain extension would give the company no authority over AfriNIC’s IP allocations or elections. Innovation Service should explain how it selected the letters, whether it consulted the society, and whether either organization would receive reserved domains or preferred terms.

From workshops to representation

In Maputo, NRS co-hosted a roundtable on 8 March 2024 with Mozambique’s public information and communications technology institute, INTIC. The same day, according to INTIC’s statement, the parties signed a memorandum envisaging support equivalent to US$500,000 for training in Internet governance, cybersecurity and policymaking. The statement assigns NRS responsibility for materials and logistics. The signed text, any disbursements and implementation results remain to be documented.

NRS’s public campaign stretches beyond Nigeria. In its account of the 16 April 2026 Dakar seminar, which it promoted on LinkedIn, NRS reports 18 participants in the room, 9 online and follow-up talks with Internet providers. The account expressly treats workshops as a way to build relationships for further advisory work. It identifies opportunities, not signed contracts. The August 2026 Bamako report names BBC & Fils SARL as co-organizer and IT TÉLÉCOM as local partner; its February Bamako report credits the same companies in a separate event. An organizer’s own LinkedIn account also records BBC & Fils organizing a seminar for NRS. This is evidence of local organizing work, not a mandate from the organizations in the room.

The dates matter. NRS’s Conakry report gives 11 December 2024 as the meeting date and 15 December 2025 as publication. Its LinkedIn post describes the forum as having happened the previous week. The report identifies VDC, SkyVision, GuiLab, KAGNY and Mouna Group as represented in the room; none should be treated as an endorser on that evidence. In Cameroon, NRS’s archived Yaoundé announcement lists 1 April 2026; its recap dates a Yaoundé event to 8 April. The records do not establish whether the same event moved.

The event chronology covers workshops reported since 2022, announcements and unresolved dates. The public campaign record traces NRS’s interventions with registries and the services it offers operators.

NRS’s representation page lays out the next step. It asks operators to authorize NRS to act in registry matters. The group says mandates can be used in policy debates, institutional reform and elections; a particular election can require a separate voting instruction or proxy. It says that a mandate is scoped, can be withdrawn under its terms, and does not transfer addresses or other assets. The distinction is essential: attendance gives NRS a contact; membership associates an organization with the group; only a valid mandate can authorize it to act, and only the applicable election rules determine whether a vote is admissible.

For example, NRS places Nedbank Limited on its representation page and Orange Cameroon on the separate power-of-attorney page. VDT appears on both under variants of its name. The full inventory preserves the listings as claims made by NRS. The public pages do not supply the signed instruments, their expiry or revocation status, or proof of how any organization voted. They also do not explain why organizations appear on one page and not another.

A Casablanca address and an unresolved registration question

The Number Resource Society describes itself as a nonprofit and publishes a contact address in Casablanca. The law firm Segame & Maalmi cites that address in its reply to a verification request from APEBI, Morocco’s federation for information technology, telecommunications and offshoring. In a letter dated 11 August 2025, Dr Iliass Segame said the firm found no company registered as “Number Resource Society” or “NRS” in the central commercial register and no matching trademark in the OMPIC records it consulted. The firm advised against entering agreements or making transactions until supporting documents were produced. NRS contact page · Letter to APEBI.

Segame & Maalmi · Letter to APEBI

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On 9 October 2025, the Internet Society’s Benin chapter circulated the letter in a warning about an NRS workshop advertised for 16 October in Cotonou. Its notice characterized the letter as proof that NRS lacked legal existence in Morocco. The linked letter records a law firm’s searches of company and trademark records on a particular date. Moroccan associations file a separate declaration with the local administrative authority. Establishing association status calls for the founding documents and evidence of that declaration, including any receipt issued by the authority. NRS’s status outside Morocco remains an open question. ISOC Benin notice · Official association procedure · Article 5 of the associations law.

ISOC Benin · Public notice

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NRS’s own records point to another jurisdiction. Section 14 of its membership terms specifies Nigerian law and Nigerian courts for disputes. Its privacy notice identifies NRS by its public name and gives the Casablanca address. Governing law and place of registration are separate questions. A name search in the Corporate Affairs Commission’s public portal returned similar names without an identifiable NRS entry. An exact legal name and, if NRS says it is incorporated in Nigeria, a registration identifier would allow a more conclusive check. Membership terms, section 14 · Privacy notice · Nigerian public register.

RIPE NCC flagged ties to Cloud Innovation in 2023

On 26 January 2023, RIPE NCC Managing Director Hans Petter Holen told government representatives that NRS had ties to Cloud Innovation and no affiliation with any regional Internet registry. He also reported that NRS was approaching governments about a working group. The presentation records RIPE NCC’s assessment and the activity it attributed to NRS. RIPE NCC presentation, slide 27.

RIPE NCC · Briefing for governments

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In February 2023, during the APNIC election controversy, Lu Heng told The Register that LARUS supported NRS’s work. In July, reporter Simon Sharwood noted that a September 2021 snapshot of the NRS website showed the same Hong Kong address as LARUS. He also found a former LARUS Foundation email address listed on the NRS site. NRS told the publication LARUS had supplied a website template and said Cloud Innovation received no special treatment. The extent of the support, who directs NRS and who pays its expenses remain open questions. 21 February 2023 reporting · 3 July 2023 reporting and responses · 2021 snapshot of NRS’s site.

Powers of attorney in AfriNIC’s election crisis

After the June 2025 election was annulled, AfriNIC’s receiver warned that NRS had approached members about signing powers of attorney. In a statement first published on 11 July 2025 and updated in 2026, NRS says it arranged proxy voting for hundreds of members and says Cloud Innovation supports its mission. That count is NRS’s. The number of accepted proxies and votes cast depends on the election records. NRS acknowledges that it has no formal relationship with AfriNIC’s administration and defends collective action by resource members. Receiver’s advisory · NRS statement to members.

On 16 July 2025, ICANN CEO Kurt Erik Lindqvist wrote to Mauritian minister Avinash Ramtohul and receiver Gowtamsingh Dabee. On page 3, ICANN says NRS has direct ties to Cloud Innovation’s chief executive and urges resource members to verify who can act on their behalf. It also expresses concern that some actors might seek to exploit AfriNIC’s governance crisis for private gain. In a separate 3 July letter, ICANN names “Number Resource Society” and “Number Resource Ltd” separately in a request for information to the receiver. The latter’s role and jurisdiction remain to be verified. 16 July letter, page 3 · 3 July letter, page 2.

ICANN · 16 July 2025 correspondence

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On 15 December 2025, addressing the separate September election, AfriNIC described NRS as an unincorporated organization. It said NRS was neither an AfriNIC member nor authorized by the registry to investigate the election. NRS challenges the September process and campaigns for resource holders to be entered in the corporate members’ register. AfriNIC’s 2026 election guidelines distinguish a corporate representative from a proxy holder and exclude proxy voting in the virtual elections they govern. AfriNIC statement · NRS election position · Membership register campaign · 2026 election guidelines.

NRS’s membership page offers free participation and paid contributions. It says contributors can stand for its advisory council or board. An operator considering membership or a mandate faces a practical question. Who receives the contribution, who is authorized to sign or act, and who can process a revocation? The public documents leave those points open. NRS membership terms and fees · Representation procedure.

South Africa shows how that contest plays out. The Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) recommended 8 candidates in September 2025 and said all 8 were elected. In May 2026, NRS cited those endorsements as it solicited interest in a different South African operator voice. The records establish competing efforts to shape representation, not that either organization controlled the result. A defensible audit would report validated and rejected authorizations, the applicable rules and how disputes were resolved, while keeping individual ballots secret.

The companies, the campaign and the newsroom

The overlap predates the ICANN round. In 2023 LARUS publicly described Lu Heng of LARUS and Melvin Cheng of Innovation Service as NRS-endorsed candidates. The APNIC conference record confirms that both stood for election to the regional registry’s executive council and neither won. An endorsement does not prove a common balance sheet, but it is a specific instance of NRS supporting candidates identified with both companies.

The commercial interests are concrete. Seychelles-based Cloud Innovation publishes the 4 blocks it registered through AfriNIC, totaling 6,291,456 IPv4 addresses, and its authorization for Hong Kong’s LARUS Limited to provide related commercial and technical services. That agreement documents an operating relationship, not the shareholding of both companies. Lu describes LARUS One and i.LEASE as related services and the LARUS Foundation promotes education and fellowships. A foundation recruitment notice in Cameroon establishes recruitment activity; it does not prove a hire or a formal NRS tie. Cloud Innovation’s Mauritian winding-up petition is a separate proceeding. Neither event attendance nor an NRS listing links an African company to that petition.

Blue Tech Wave, or BTW Media, adds a publishing channel. Lu says the outlet operates independently and does not coordinate messages with commercial entities. Its AfriNIC reporting quotes him in his business roles, and its LinkedIn account promoted LARUS’s anniversary at NANOG 97, where NANOG lists LARUS as a premium sponsor. Promotion is documented; editorial instructions are not. A further lead is Larus Media Group Limited, a British Virgin Islands company in RIPE NCC’s directory. BTW Media itself says the record does not establish which entity books its income or pays editorial costs. The RIPE listing cannot settle those questions.

The entity and brand profiles bring together the documents that establish each role.

The public interest is in the links that can be verified

NRS makes an argument that deserves to be heard on its merits: operators should have meaningful rights in the institutions their networks depend on. LARUS and Cloud Innovation also have a commercial stake in rules governing the use and portability of scarce addresses. That overlap creates a reason to disclose who funds the campaign, how mandates are granted and verified, and how the media outlet handles coverage of related businesses. It does not establish that the firms direct NRS’s votes or that NRS represents Africa as a whole.

AfriNIC should apply the same transparent authorization checks to all groups and disclose aggregate outcomes without exposing votes. Operators should know who can act in their name, for how long and how to revoke that authority. If .nrs is confirmed, ICANN should ask the applicant to explain the overlap with a public advocacy organization and disclose any preferential arrangements, then assess the application under the published rules. In parallel, NRS and BTW Media can answer the questions their own records leave open by identifying their legal entities, major institutional funding and safeguards against conflicts of interest. Those disclosures would let African operators and readers decide whose interests are being represented.

Read Part 1 of the investigation by the African Dialogue on Internet Governance

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