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'''.la''' is the ccTLD for Laos. It is managed by Lao National Internet Center (LANIC), Ministry of Technology and Communications.<ref>[https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/la.html IANA: Delegation Record for .LA]</ref>
== Delegation History ==
The .la ccTLD was established in May 1996 based on the assignment of the "la" code to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The .la ccTLD was initially to Mr. Sisomphet Nhoybouakong (an employee in the Lao PDR Prime Minister’s office) as administrative contact and the Keeper of Domains, of Singapore Telecom, SingNet (of Singapore) as technical contact.
In January 2001, the IANA received a request from Keeper of Domains, SingNet (the technical contact) requesting that the technical contact be changed to Master of Domains, Sterling. Sterling Pacific Pty., Ltd. is a Hong Kong-based company that had entered into a Technical Cooperation Agreement concerning the .la ccTLD with the Lao Government. Sterling was engaged, through a program announced in December 2000 to register domain names within the .la ccTLD in the United States and elsewhere, with the suggestion that .la registrations could be of interest to those in "Los Angeles, Latin America or Louisiana."
Although the request to change the technical contact was confirmed by the technical contact, the administrative contact did not initially respond to the IANA's inquiries regarding his position. In November 2001, the IANA received a letter from the Lao PDR Prime Minister's Office notifying the IANA that the Technical Cooperation Agreement between Sterling and the Lao Government had been terminated by notices in April and June 2000, and that subsequently the Lao Courts had issued an interim order "on 8 August 2001 ruling the termination lawful and ordering the ceasing of all operations by Sterling in relation to ccTLD .la." Despite the termination by the Lao Government of the Technical Cooperation Agreement, Sterling continued to operate, market, and promote the .la ccTLD though a website it branded as "dotLA – L.A.'s own domain."
In early 2002, the IANA received a request from the Lao Government that the .la ccTLD be redelegated to the Lao National Internet Committee (LANIC, a committee of governmental ministers), with designated in-country administrative and technical contacts.
The Lao Government seeks, in this redelegation request, to put the .la TLD on a more institutional basis under a Memorandum of Understanding with ICANN, in place of the current delegation to Sisomphet Nhoybouakong as administrative contact and Keeper of Domains, SingNet as technical contact. Both the present administrative contact and the present technical contact have consented to the redelegation. On 17 September 2002, the ICANN Board of Directors authorized the entry of this Memorandum of Understanding, which closely parallels prior MoUs entered for the .bi and .mw ccTLDs, with the Lao Government.]
IANA concluded on 11 December 2002 that the redelegation was valid.
== Rules and Restrictions ==
The '''.la''' domain is an [[Open Use ccTLD]].
== Usage ==
It was first marketed as a [[Domain hack|domain hack]] for businesses and news sites in the Los Angeles, California area in 2001.<ref>See, for example, [http://web.archive.org/web/20010119051900/http://www.la:80/ this 2001 snapshot of the www.la site] from the Internet Archive</ref> In 2013, [[GoDaddy]] made a new marketing push for .la as a Los Angeles brand identifier, resulting in a small swell of interest.<ref name="dnw">[https://domainnamewire.com/2013/10/16/over-7000-la-domains-registered-at-godaddy-since-june/ Domain Name Wire - 7000 .la domains registered at GoDaddy since June], October 16, 2013</ref>
Despite the "open" nature, some domains in use pertain to companies or institutions in Laos.<ref>See e.g. this [http://lsxdisclosure.com.la/ archive of public disclosures] of companies listed on the Laos Stock Exchange.</ref> In March 2021, the domain had approximately 175,000 active registrations. As of 2024, the number has decreased to less than 50,000.<ref>[https://research.domaintools.com/statistics/tld-counts/ DomainTools.com - TLD Counts]</ref>
==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Open Use ccTLD]]
[[Category:ccTLD]]