.ls

Overview

.ls is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Lesotho. Introduced in January 1993, it is intended for entities connected with Lesotho and is used mainly within the country. The zone supports registrations at second and third levels and has seen occasional use as a domain hack.

History

• Introduced and first delegated on 13 January 1993, with the National University of Lesotho as the sponsoring authority.
• Technical registry operations were initially handled by Rhodes University (South Africa) and continued until September 2012.
• In April 2012 the sponsoring authority changed from the National University of Lesotho to the Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA) following the Communications Act (No. 4 of 2012).
• A non-profit company, the Lesotho Network Information Centre (LsNIC), was established in January 2016 to take over registry operations.
• Technical operations shifted to LsNIC in 2017 and IANA re-delegation of the zone was completed in March 2017. Management of the domain was transferred to LsNIC during the subsequent transition period (reported in 2018).

Usage and Audience

• Primary audience: individuals, organisations, companies, and public bodies connected with Lesotho.
• Common users:
  • Educational institutions (e.g., National University of Lesotho)
  • Government departments (using .gov.ls)
  • Commercial enterprises and local businesses
  • Non-profit organisations and community groups
  • Schools (using .sc.ls)
• Also occasionally used for domain-hack purposes, though such use is rare.

Registration Rules

• Eligibility: Any natural person, company or organisation can register under .ls.
• Registrations are processed through accredited registrars.
• Structure:
  • New registrations are taken at second and third level beneath defined second-level labels.
  • Second- and third-level labels in use include (intended uses noted where available):
    • .ac.ls — academic or educational organisations
    • .co.ls — commercial entities, companies
    • .gov.ls — government departments (registration restricted to Lesotho government organisations)
    • .net.ls — network infrastructure
    • .nul.ls — reserved for the National University of Lesotho (registrable only by the university)
    • .org.ls — non-commercial entities
    • .sc.ls — primary and high schools
    • .info.ls — (available SLD)
    • .biz.ls — (available SLD)
• Character and syntax rules:
  • Only alphanumeric characters (A–Z, 0–9) and dashes (-) are permitted.
  • Names must not begin or end with a dash (-).
  • Maximum label length is 63 characters.
  • No spaces allowed in domain names.
• Dispute policy: UDRP is used for dispute resolutions.
• Registry: Lesotho Network Information Centre (LsNIC). Website: https://www.nic.ls/

Notable Cases or Examples

• .nul.ls is explicitly reserved for the National University of Lesotho and is used only by that institution.
• The domain has been occasionally used for domain hacks, though such uses are uncommon.

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

domain:       LS

organisation: Lesotho Network Information Centre Proprietary (LSNIC)
address:      Lesotho Communications Authority Building
address:      30 Princess Margaret Road
address:      Old Europa
address:      Maseru
address:      Lesotho

contact:      administrative
name:         Molupe Molupe
organisation: Lesotho Communications Authority
address:      30 Princess Margaret Road
address:      Old Europa
address:      Maseru
address:      Lesotho
phone:        +266 22224300
fax-no:       +266 22310984
e-mail:       lsadmin@lca.org.ls

contact:      technical
name:         System Engineer-LsNIC
organisation: Lesotho Communications Authority
address:      30 Princess Margaret Road
address:      Old Europa
address:      Maseru
address:      Lesotho
phone:        +266 22224300
fax-no:       +266 2231 0984
e-mail:       mmaphoi@nic.ls

nserver:      LS-NS.ANYCAST.PCH.NET 2001:500:14:6028:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.28
nserver:      NS-LS.AFRINIC.NET 196.216.168.70 2001:43f8:120:0:0:0:0:70
nserver:      NS1.NIC.LS 196.43.249.1
nserver:      NS2.NIC.LS 196.11.175.1
ds-rdata:     724 8 2 ae6a33b121b3191899e158c63c5ff51f8ff6c4c728617c65c91207ec354b6fa4
ds-rdata:     724 8 4 942fef26dc403df85b9ed8f6931de23aadedd511267de453f55339aed1f9a9be2b9c916512d2270b6ac4a6fa5085fa36

whois:        whois.nic.ls

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

created:      1993-01-13
changed:      2024-06-17
source:       IANA