• AI Domains
  • Pricing
  • Membership

    • .ec

    Country-code top-level domains

    Overview

    .ec is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Ecuador. Introduced in 1991, it is intended for entities connected with Ecuador and is widely used within the country. Registrations are available directly at the second level (example.ec) or at the third level beneath a number of predefined second-level labels (example.com.ec, example.org.ec, etc.).

    History

    • Introduced: 1 February 1991 (implemented February 1, 1991).
    • Registry / managers mentioned in source material: EcuaNet, ECUADORDOMAIN S.A. (operating via nic.ec).
    • Sponsor listed as NICEC.
    • Registered domains: 49,340 (data point dated 2022-12-15).
    • Dispute policy: UDRP.
    • Official website / Nic: https://www.nic.ec/

    Usage and Audience

    • General use: Entities and individuals connected with Ecuador; popular within the country.
    • Common second-level labels and their intended users:
      • .ec — General use
      • .com.ec — Commercial use
      • .info.ec — General information
      • .net.ec — Internet service providers
      • .fin.ec — Financial institutions and services (banks)
      • .med.ec — Medical and health-related entities
      • .pro.ec — Professionals (lawyers, architects, accountants, etc.)
      • .org.ec — Non-profit organizations
      • .edu.ec — Educational institutions
      • .gob.ec — Government of Ecuador (since July 2010)
      • .gov.ec — formerly used by the government
      • .mil.ec — Ecuadorian military

    Registration Rules

    • Registration structure:

      • Registrations are permitted directly at the second level and at the third level beneath specified second-level labels.
      • Some third-level registrations have restrictions depending on the second-level label they fall under.
      • Direct registration with the .ec Network Information Center (NIC) is mandatory for restricted domains such as .gob.ec and .mil.ec because of their special conditions.

    • Eligibility and content restrictions (selected rules from registry policies):

      • Names that are offensive, obscene, contrary to public order or Ecuadorian law are not permitted.
      • Names making unauthorized reference to official aspects or topics of the country are disallowed.
      • Names identical to Internet protocols/terminology (e.g., "http", "www", "ftp", "email") are prohibited.
      • Names identical at the same level to existing registered names in the registry database are not allowed.

    • Allowed characters and format:

      • Valid characters: letters A–Z (case-insensitive), digits 0–9, and the hyphen (-).
      • Disallowed characters: accented letters, the letter Ñ, underscores, and other special characters.
      • The first and last character cannot be a hyphen, and consecutive hyphens (two or more in a row) are not allowed.

    • Length limits:

      • Second-level domains: minimum 4 characters, maximum 65 characters.
      • Third-level domains: minimum 3 characters, maximum 65 characters (registry recommends a practical maximum of 25 characters despite the 65-character technical limit).

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • In November 2016, the mirror domain "archive.ec" (one of Archive.is's mirror domains) was unavailable for eight consecutive days due to a software bug in the .ec registry.

    Operator

    ECUADORDOMAIN S.A.

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       EC

organisation: ECUADORDOMAIN S.A.
address:      Avenida República y pradera Edificio Torre Republica
address:      Quito
address:      Ecuador

contact:      administrative
name:         ECUADORDOMAIN S.A.
organisation: ECUADORDOMAIN S.A.
address:      Avenida República y pradera Edificio Torre Republica
address:      Quito
address:      Ecuador
phone:        +593 98 432 4607
e-mail:       administracion@nic.ec

contact:      technical
name:         ECUADORDOMAIN S.A.
organisation: ECUADORDOMAIN S.A.
address:      Avenida República y pradera Edificio Torre Republica
address:      Quito
address:      Ecuador
phone:        +593 99 512 4454
e-mail:       admin@nic.ec

nserver:      A.LACTLD.ORG 200.0.68.10 2801:14:a000:0:0:0:0:10
nserver:      N2.NIC.EC 200.12.199.1 2801:0:60:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      N3.DNS.EC 2001:500:14:6039:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.39
nserver:      NS1.ANYCASTDNS.CZ 185.38.108.108 2a00:fea0:dead:0:0:0:0:beef
nserver:      NS2.ANYCASTDNS.CZ 185.28.194.194
ds-rdata:     35138 13 2 2de23508e6ac307fc11f86b8768025bff14e2b585d555b020e218ec65c9a0223

whois:        whois.nic.ec

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.nic.ec

created:      1991-02-01
changed:      2024-04-10
source:       IANA

    Registrars