Country code top-level domains with commercial licenses
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Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
country code top-level domain A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all ...
that have adopted a policy for worldwide commercial use. Some of the world's smallest countries have opened their country code domain to worldwide registrations for commercial purposes. For example,
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-nor ...
and the
Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (; abbreviated FSM) is an island country in Oceania. It consists of four states from west to east, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosraethat are spread across the western Pacific. Together, the states comprise a ...
, small island-states in the Pacific, have partnered with
VeriSign Verisign Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia, United States that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the , , and gene ...
and FSM Telecommunications respectively, to sell domain name registrations using the and TLDs to television and radio stations. Some commercially available ccTLDs are in demand for use outside their home countries because their name can provide a component of a meaningful word or phrase. These are sometimes referred to as vanity ccTLDs.


List of ccTLDs permitting worldwide commercial use

* ( Ascension Island) is sometimes used to stand for "Access Connection" or "Access Card". It is occasionally used by universities to stand for "academic", for example by the University of Kurdistan – Hawler () or
Ralston College Ralston College is an institution of higher education that offers in-person degree programs as well as online programs. It began its first in-person offering, an MA in the Humanities, in autumn of 2022 with the authority to grant degrees. Its first ...
(), * (
Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...
) has recently been increasingly used by advertising agencies or classified advertising. * ( Antigua and Barbuda) is sometimes used for agricultural sites. In
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and German-speaking countries, AG (short for
Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG, ) is a German word for a corporation limited by share ownership (i.e. one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (where it is equi ...
) is appended to the name of a stock-based company, similar to Inc. in
USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. * (
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
) is often used for AM radio stations, or for
domain hack A domain hack is a domain name that suggests a word, phrase, or name when concatenating two or more adjacent levels of that domain. For example, and , using the fictitious country-code domains ''.ds'' and ''.le'', suggest the words ''birds'' an ...
s. * (
American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internationa ...
) In Estonia, Denmark and Norway, AS is appended to the name of a stock-based company, similar to Inc. in USA. In Czech Republic and Slovakia, the joint stock corporation a.s. abbreviation stands for :cs:Akciová společnost. * (
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
) is used for English words ending in "at". * (
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
) is sometimes used for the literal term "be". It is also used in some download sites as the end of the word "tube" such as , a site for the downloading of
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
videos. YouTube site is accessible through domain, registered by
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
itself. * (
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
) is sometimes used in Germany, as "BY" is the official abbreviation of the state
Bayern Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. * (
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
) is occasionally used to create domain hacks like , the web domain of
The Historica Dominion Institute Historica Canada is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to promoting the country's history and citizenship. All of its programs are offered bilingually and reach more than 28 million Canadians annually. A registered national charitabl ...
. This type of use is limited by the .ca domain's Canadian residence requirements. * (
Cocos (Keeling) Islands ) , anthem = "''Advance Australia Fair''" , song_type = , song = , image_map = Australia on the globe (Cocos (Keeling) Islands special) (Southeast Asia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , map_caption = ...
) is used for a wide variety of sites such as community colleges, especially before such institutions were allowed to use .edu. It is also used by some churches as an abbreviation of Christian church. For example, www.gracechurch.cc, www.bible.cc, www.saintjohns.cc * (
Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
) is used for CD merchants and file sharing sites. * ( Switzerland) is used for a number of church websites. * (
Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...
) was notably abused in Chris Morris's Nathan Barley by preceding it with ".co" in order to spell out the word "cock" (.co.ck as in ). * ( Colombia) is marketed as commercial, corporation, or company. What makes .CO such a unique opportunity? * (
Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...
) is used for CD merchants and disc jockies (DJs, as in deejay). * (
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
) is used for forming plural words (e.g. in English ). * (
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
) is used as a domain hack by
Eye-Fi Eye-Fi was a company based in Mountain View, California, that produced SD memory cards with Wi-Fi capabilities. Using an Eye-Fi card inside a digital camera, one could wirelessly and automatically upload digital photos to a local computer or a ...
(), a maker of memory cards with Wi-Fi capabilities. * (the
Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (; abbreviated FSM) is an island country in Oceania. It consists of four states from west to east, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosraethat are spread across the western Pacific. Together, the states comprise a ...
) is often used for FM radio stations (and even non-FM stations, such as
internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...
stations). * (Greenland) is often used for Galician or Galicia-related sites, in waiting for the domain. This TLD is also used by Google's link shortening and analytics service Goo.gl. * ( Guernsey) is often used by the gaming and gambling industry, particularly in relation to horse racing and online poker. * (the
Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...
) is often used by
instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...
programs and services. * (
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
) is widely used in the internet industry. * (the British Indian Ocean Territory). Notable examples are online storage site Drop.io and task list site Done.io. Commonly used by tech companies or individuals for its relation to
Input/Output In computing, input/output (I/O, or informally io or IO) is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world, possibly a human or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals ...
. * (Iceland) is used as the English verb, "to be" in conjunction with a directory name suffix to complete a linguistically correct sentence (for example, ".is/" or "<noun>.is/<adjective>). * (Iran) is used in domain hacks (e.g. .has.ir). * (Italy) is the third-person neuter pronoun in English and is used for domains such as . * (Jersey) is often used as a diminutive in Dutch (e.g. "huis.je"), as "your" ("zoek.je" = "search your"), or as "I" in French (e.g. "moi.je"). * (Laos) is marketed as suggesting Los Angeles or Latin America. * (Liechtenstein) is marketed as meaning Long Island. * (Latvia) is also used to abbreviate Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas or less frequently, love. * (Libya) is also used for words ending with suffix "ly". * (Moldova) is marketed to the medical industry (as in "medical domain" or "medical doctor"). * (Montenegro) was opened in 2008, and has quickly become one of the most used ccTLDs for vanity. It is used worldwide by individuals, and companies offering services, because of the meaning in English and more languages. It is widely used as well in the Middle East for its abbreviation. * (Mongolia) is used to abbreviate Minnesota. * (Montserrat) is also used for some Microsoft-related projects. * (Mauritius) is used within the music industry. * (Nicaragua) is occasionally adopted by companies from Northern Ireland, particularly to distinguish from the more usual .uk within all parts of the United Kingdom. * (Niue) is marketed as resembling "new" in English and "now" in Scandinavian/Dutch. Also means "nude" in French and Portuguese. * (Puerto Rico) can be used in the meaning of "Public Relations". * (Serbia) is marketed in English words ending with the letters "rs" such as . * (Seychelles) is often used as .Source . * (Saint Helena) is also sometimes used for entities connected to the Germany, German ''States of Germany, Bundesland'' of Schleswig-Holstein or the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, Canton of Canton of Schaffhausen, Schaffhausen, or to Shanghai or Shenzhen in China. * (Slovenia) is also used by Hispanic sites as "yes" ("sí"). Mexican mayor candidate Jorge Arana, for example, had his web site registered as (i.e. "Jorge Arana, sí", meaning "Jorge Arana, yes"). * (Suriname) is marketed in the US as being for "seniors". * (São Tomé and Príncipe) is being marketed worldwide as an abbreviation for various things including "street". * (Turks and Caicos Islands) is marketed as "abbreviation of Türkiye Cumhuriyeti". * (Turkmenistan) can be used as "trade mark". * (Tonga) is often used as the English word "to", like . Also is marketed as the TLD for Toronto and for the Italian city and province of Turin (Torino in Italian). * (
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-nor ...
) is used for the television/entertainment industry purposes. It is also used for local businesses in the province of Province of Treviso, Treviso, Italy. * (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) is sometimes used to abbreviate "Venture Capital" "Vacation Club" or "Virtual Casino". * (British Virgin Islands) is sometimes used to abbreviate Video games. * (Vanuatu) means "seen" in French as well as an abbreviation for the English language word "view". * (Samoa, earlier Western Samoa) is marketed as .Website.


See also

* Country code top-level domain


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Country Code Top-Level Domains with commercial licenses Top-level domains Country codes Domain Name System