.co

Infobox Top level domain
name=.co
background=#CCF


introduced=1991
type=Country code top-level domain
status=Active
registry=Los Andes University
sponsor=None
intendeduse=Entities connected with
flag|Colombia
actualuse=Used in Colombia; talk of capitalizing on similarity to .com and .co.uk and selling second-level registrations worldwide never materialized
restrictions=Limited to registrants located in Colombia; other restrictions vary by second-level subdomain
structure=Registration is only permitted at third level beneath various second-level names such as .com.co
document= [https://www.nic.co/dominio/ing_solsol.htm Registration instructions (in Spanish)]
disputepolicy=UDRP
website= [https://www.nic.co/dominio nic.co] |

.co is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Colombia. It is administered by Los Andes University.

"co" is also frequently used as a second-level domain within other country-code domains, in which registrants (usually companies) may register second-level domains of the form .co.xx, where xx is the ccTLD. Israel (.co.il), United Kingdom (.co.uk), New Zealand (.co.nz), Japan (.co.jp), South Korea (.co.kr) and Cook Islands (.co.ck) are examples. Some other country codes use "com" instead, such as Australia (.com.au), Mexico (.com.mx) and Taiwan (.com.tw); this includes Colombia itself, which uses .com.co.

Around the year 2000 when many country-code domains were being remarketed as worldwide generic domains, there was some talk of allowing second-level registrations in .co for registrants worldwide in order to capitalize on the similarity of this name to .com and to the above-noted use of "co" as a second-level domain in other country codes. However, a Court order prohibited Andes University from doing so, and registration remains limited to third-level domains and to Colombian registrants.

Second-level domains

The second-level domain structure rather closely mirrors the"traditional IANA" .com / .net / .org / .gov / .edu / .mil hierarchy, with the addition of a national equivalent of .name

*com.co - commercial
*org.co - organizations
*edu.co - educational
*gov.co - government
*net.co - network infrastructure
*mil.co - military
*nom.co - private person

External links

* [http://www.iana.org/root-whois/co.htm IANA .co whois information]