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Research Outline

Prepared for Kevin D. | Delivered September 4, 2020

Country Code Top Level Domains

Goals

To obtain a detailed overview of the county code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) for: Colombia (.CO),
Montenegro (.ME), Antigua (.AI), and British Indian Ocean Territory (.IO). The overview should include: the public launch date and brief history on the launch of the TLD; estimates on total domain registered and domain registrations in 2019; annual domain revenue estimates; details on the organization/company that manages the domain, and how it manages the domain; the pricing of the domains (premium vs generic) and wholesale pricing, where available; any restrictions on the domains registered/to be registered; and notable examples of the domain.

Early Findings

Country-Code Top-Level Domain: .IO

  • The .IO domain is the ccTLD for the British Indian Ocean Territory, and was created in 1997.  
  • According to IANA, the ccTLD .IO manager is the Internet Computer Bureau Ltd 
  • There are over 270,000 .IO domains registered
  • The .IO domain is "facing potential retirement," as the country it is derived from, the Chagos Archipelago, could soon no longer officially exist based on a UN ruling calling on the U.K. to end its administration of the island.
  • The .IO domain registrations "bring in fees of $10 million each year, and the ccTLD has an overall value of around $50 million."

Country-Code Top-Level Domain: .CO

  • The ccTLD .CO was delegated to represent Colombia in 1991, to the Universidad de los Andes.
  • According to Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the current ccTLD. CO manager is: .CO Internet S.A.S. 
  • According to the Colombian Ministry of Technology, over 2.2 million .CO domains were registered as of October 2019

Country-Code Top-Level Domain: .AI

  • The .AI domain is the ccTLD for Anguilla, and was originally introduced in 1995. In 2009 it was opened to persons or businesses outside Anguilla.
  • According to IANA, the ccTLD .AI manager is the Government of Anguilla, through the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Utilities.

Country-Code Top-Level Domain: .ME

  • The .ME domain is the ccTLD allocated to Montenegro and was introduced in 2006. 
  • According to IANA, the ccTLD .ME manager is the Government of Montenegro, through the University of Montenegro, Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

Summary of Findings

  • In this preliminary hour of research, we found that information on the .CO, .AI, .IO, and .ME ccTLDs is available in the public domain.
  • We have provided a few insights on each domain, and suggest continued research to provide further details on these, as detailed below: