.la

Overview

• .la is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos).
• Introduced/implemented on 14 May 1996 and operated with involvement from the Lao National Internet Center (LANIC).
• Although assigned to Laos, .la has been widely marketed and used outside Laos—especially for Los Angeles, Louisiana, Latin America and as domain-hack material.

History

• 14 May 1996: .la was introduced as the ccTLD for Laos.
• Early delegation involved administrative contact Sisomphet Nhoybouakong and technical contact SingNet (Singapore Telecom).
• 2000–2002: A Technical Cooperation Agreement with Sterling (a Hong Kong-based company) led to marketing of .la internationally; that agreement was later terminated and legal actions occurred.
• 17 September 2002: ICANN Board authorized a Memorandum of Understanding to redelegate .la to the Lao government committee (LANIC). IANA concluded redelegation in December 2002.
• LA Names Corporation (Guernsey) acquired marketing rights and used registry services from providers such as Afilias; CentralNic completed a transfer of .la to its system in 2007. DreamHost formerly offered registrar services but discontinued .la registrar services (circa May 2006).
• 2011: The first emoji domain on .la (xn--ls8h.la, "Poopla") was created on April 13, 2011.
• 2019: An internationalized ccTLD in Lao script (.ລາວ) was approved for use; deployment of Lao-script domains was planned subsequently.

Usage and Audience

• Typical uses:
  • Entities in Laos (government and local institutions).
  • Organizations and businesses in Los Angeles (marketed as a Los Angeles identifier) and in Louisiana (postal abbreviation LA).
  • Regional use in Latin America and by companies targeting Latin American audiences.
  • Domain hacks in various languages (e.g., French, Chinese) and short URLs.
• Notable patterns:
  • Adoption as URL shorteners and brand redirects (examples include Mozilla and Tesla").
  • Use by communities such as Toki Pona websites which leverage the two-letter word "la" from the language.
• Registration volume: approximately 175,000 active registrations reported in March 2021; reported to have decreased to under 50,000 by 2024.

Registration Rules

• The .la ccTLD is characterized as an "open use" ccTLD with no broad eligibility restrictions for registrants.
• Registrations are taken directly at the second level (example: example.la).
• Some names are reserved as premium names and are available at higher cost.
• Dispute policy: UDRP applies.
• DNSSEC: supported (DNSSEC yes).

SEO and Brand Impact

• .la has been actively marketed as a geographic and brand identifier for Los Angeles and Louisiana, and as a regional identifier for Latin America.
• Its utility for domain hacks and short URLs has made it attractive for branding and marketing (short memorable domains, region-specific branding).
• No direct technical SEO penalties or search-engine-specific perceptions are documented in the provided sources; impact is primarily in brand positioning and memorability.

Notable Cases or Examples

• Mozilla uses the domain hack mzl.la for URL shortening/redirects.
• Tesla uses ts.la as a shortener/redirect.
• Digital Public Library of America uses dp.la.
• Digikala (e‑commerce in Iran/Middle East) uses dgka.la as a shortener.
• Toki Pona community sites such as sona.pona.la and linku.la use .la because of the language token "la."
• The first emoji domain on .la (xn--ls8h.la, "Poopla") was created by Panic on April 13, 2011.
• Administrative/operational transitions and marketing arrangements: involvement of Sterling (early 2000s), LA Names Corporation (marketing rights), Afilias (registry services), CentralNic (system transfer in 2007), and ongoing management by LANIC (Lao National Internet Center / Ministry of Technology and Communications).

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

domain:       LA

organisation: Lao National Internet Center (LANIC), Ministry of Technology and Communications
address:      Lane Xang Avenue, Chanthaboury
address:      Vientiane 01000
address:      Lao People's Democratic Republic (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         Deputy Director General of LANIC
organisation: Lao National Internet Center (LANIC)
address:      Ministry of Technology and Communications
address:      Saylom Road, Chanthaboury District
address:      Vientiane 10000
address:      Lao People's Democratic Republic (the)
phone:        +856 21 254150
fax-no:       +856 21 254150
e-mail:       admincontact@lanic.gov.la

contact:      technical
name:         Director of ccTLD .LA Division
organisation: Lao National Internet Center (LANIC)
address:      Ministry of Technology and Communications
address:      Saylom Road, Chanthaboury District
address:      Vientiane 10000
address:      Lao People's Democratic Republic (the)
phone:        +856 030 5745154
fax-no:       +856 21 254150
e-mail:       technicalcontact@lanic.gov.la

nserver:      NS1.NIC.LA 185.24.64.15 2a04:2b00:13cc:0:0:0:1:15
nserver:      NS2.NIC.LA 194.169.218.14 2001:67c:13cc:0:0:0:1:14
nserver:      NS3.NIC.LA 185.24.64.14 2a04:2b00:13cc:0:0:0:1:14
nserver:      NS4.NIC.LA 194.169.218.15 2001:67c:13cc:0:0:0:1:15
ds-rdata:     42973 7 2 e7d0c3bcdf60e8d842e882d90b4ec263c8889b760098492c798841c13b4ea13f
ds-rdata:     42973 7 1 1f0cefa420e9101bb5791f3ab93e85917a72978b

whois:        whois.nic.la

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.la

created:      1996-05-14
changed:      2025-08-21
source:       IANA