.ke

.ke is the ccTLD for Kenya. It is managed by Kenya Network Information Center (KeNIC).

Delegation History

In 1993, the .ke domain was delegated by Jon Postel to Dr. Shem Ochuodho and Randy Bush as the administrative and technical contacts, respectively. In 2000, Kenyan stakeholders initiated a series of conversations that resulted in the formation of KeNIC in October 2001. KeNIC submitted a redelegation request to IANA in June 2002, with the support of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and local Internet stakeholders. Dr. Ochuodho was largely nonresponsive to requests from IANA to discuss the redelegation request. At an in-person meeting at ICANN's East Africa Internet Forum in August of 2002, Dr. Ochuodho communicated his objections to the redelegation to IANA. In the meeting, IANA and Dr. Ochuodho agreed that "within thirty days [Dr. Ochuodho] would either (a) work out a solution with KENIC on the management of the .ke ccTLD; (b) demonstrate significant support within the Kenyan Internet community for administration of the .ke ccTLD by him rather than KENIC; or (c) agree to the redelegation of the .ke ccTLD." He did not follow up with IANA within the subsequent thirty days, nor at any time prior to the IANA Redelegation Report being published in December 2002.

As a result, KeNIC's redelegation request became one of the rare instances in which the parties involved in a redelegation matter were unable to reach consensus amongst themselves. In such cases, IANA is obliged to make a determination regarding the request. The redelegation report states that cases such as this follow a particular trend: "Characteristically, these circumstances have involved an overwhelming demonstration, without adequate rebuttal, of relevant support for redelegation." IANA determined that this was another such case, and approved redelegation of the domain to KeNIC. In the report, IANA took pains to thank Dr. Ochuodho for his service:

In concluding that redelegation is appropriate, the IANA does not question the substantial contributions of good faith of Dr. Ochuodho. Since 1993, he has provided, without compensation, a valuable service to Kenya, in the best traditions of the Internet. During his service, the Internet has arrived and grown enormously in Kenya. With hundreds of thousands of users now going online every day, it is not surprising that the Kenyan Internet community would seek to have the administration of the .ke registry shifted from a single individual to a stable and reliable institutional setting, with open and participatory policymaking procedures, professional staffing, and competent technical operations located within Kenya. Dr. Ochuodho deserves credit for establishing the .ke registry and shepherding its development to this point. In that sense, the IANA's redelegation determination is a consequence of the growth and maturation of the Kenyan Internet community, and should not be taken as a criticism of Dr. Ochuodho's voluntary stewardship.

Rules and Restrictions

Some domain names are reserved or blocked. A reserved name is a name that is not, and may not be, registered. Names may be reserved to enhance the stability and security of the DNS, and to preserve the public nature of well-known or widely-used names over which no-one holds and no-one should hold intellectual property rights. A blocked name is a name that is considered to be offensive on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, gender or any other grounds that are in the public interest.

Registration and continued use of .ke Domain Names is subject to Kenyan law.

Second-level Domain

The available second-level domains under .ke are:

• .co.ke
• .or.ke
• .ne.ke
• .me.ke
• .info.ke
• .mobi.ke

Three SLDs require documentation establishing that the registrant is either a school (".ac.ke" and ".sc.ke") or government entity (".go.ke") within Kenya.

Characters

All .ke Domain Names

• must have a minimum of 1 character;
• should not have more than 63 characters;
• should have a syntax pattern of [a-z 0-9].

Country code top-level domain

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority