.co domain

.co is the country code top-level domain for the Republic of Colombia. It is administered by .CO Internet S.A.S., a strategic venture formed between Arcelandia S.A. and Neustar, Inc. Arcelandia is an entity with interests in a variety of Internet-related businesses; and Neustar is a provider of global registry and managed DNS services for top-level domains.

.CO Internet S.A.S was appointed as the manager for the .co TLD through a public procurement process that took place in early 2009. The concession contract, which is dated September 3, 2009, is for an initial term of ten years. .CO Internet received the re-delegation approval as the manager of the .co TLD by ICANN on December 9, 2009, and received formal confirmation of the request by the United States Department of Commerce on December 23, 2009.

IANA delegates ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes as country code top-level domains, and on 24 December 1991 the .co top-level domain, representing entities connected with Colombia, was delegated to the Universidad de los Andes.[3]

In 2001 the University began to consider the possibility of marketing the domain as an alternative to the generic top-level domains, based on its resemblance to the .com domain. The Government of Colombia objected, and the Minister of Communications, Angela Montoya Holguín, wrote to the University to request that they not continue. In turn the University wrote to ICANN, rejecting the Government′s objections and stating their intention to appoint a subcontractor to handle the commercialisation of the domain.[3]

At a meeting on 11 December 2001, Holguín asked the Consultative Chamber and Civil Service of the Council of State to consider three issues:[4]
whether the .co domain is a public resource
if the domain is public resource, whether it is intrinsically linked with telecommunications
if the domain is linked with telecommunications, who should profit from its commercialisation

In relation to these three issues, the meeting concluded that:[4]
the .co domain, having been assigned to Colombia, is of public interest
the administration of the domain is intrinsically related to telecommunications, and hence falls under the purview of the Ministry of Communications, with the exception of those functions assigned to the ICFES by the Ministry of National Education
unless the Congress of Colombia adopts an act allowing tax to be collected in relation to the registration of domain names, no amount can be charged for such a service

In response to the Council of State meeting, the University wrote to ICANN on 12 February 2002 stating that it had abandoned plans to commercialise the domain, and that as it could “no longer bear the administrative and operational responsibilities” it wished to discontinue its responsibility for operating the domain.[3]
Third-level domain registrations

The third level domain registrations closely mirror the "traditional” IANA .com / .net / .org / .gov / .edu / .mil hierarchy, with the addition of a national equivalent of .name. Different from registrations directly under .co which are used to signal globally relevant interests, third level domains are used to signal locally relevant business, organizations, academic institutions, and government.

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

Allocation of domain names
.CO Internet S.A.S. is implementing new domain policies that are more flexible and adjusted to international best practices. These new policies create the possibility for second-level domain names, such as widgets.co, creating greater market potential around the world.

To kick off the launch of second-level domains, the registry auctioned the domain name "e.CO" during Internet Week on June 10, 2010[5]. For a purchase price of $81,000, the winner of the auction was well known internet entrepreneur Lonnie Borck of B52 Media[6]. Proceeds will benefit a charitable cause of the winner's choice.

Summary of .co's new policies:
Any person or entity in the world can register .co domain names
There are no domicile or burdensome documentation requirements
Registration period is between 1 and 5 years, subject to renewal
Registrants can easily transfer domain names to others

.co domains will be made available via the following timeline:

April 1, 2010 – April 20, 2010: Sunrise A will allow registered Colombian trademarks to apply for exact match domains.

April 26, 2010 – June 10, 2010: Sunrise B will allow trademarks of national effect to apply for exact match domains.

June 21, 2010 – July 13, 2010: Landrush will allow anyone to apply for domain names of high commercial value.

July 20, 2010: .co domains will become generally available.

Accredited registrars
Only a small group of accredited registrars are able to sell .co domain names directly; other registrars selling .co domain names are acting as resellers. The list of accredited registrars is available on the .CO Internet website, and as of July 2010 there are 11 accredited registrars.