Overview
- .mh is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
- Introduced on August 16, 1996.
- Registry and sponsoring authorities are reported differently in sources: Wikipedia lists the National Telecommunications Authority as registry and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications as sponsor, while other sources (ICANNWiki/IANA references) indicate management by the Office of the Cabinet.
History
- Delegated in 1996 (August 16, 1996).
- The registry website listed by IANA (nic.net.mh) has not been reliably active:
- According to archived records and reports, the site had not been updated since 1997 and was inactive by the end of 2021.
- Archive.org's last successful crawl of nic.net.mh noted in sources was in 2007.
- As of April 2021 some sources reported there was no operating registry provider for .mh.
- Historically, registration on the listed site was handled by downloading or submitting an InterNIC template form (email-based processing on archived pages).
Usage and Audience
- .mh is sparsely used compared with generic TLDs. As of 2021 a search identified only a few active .mh websites:
- A Natural Disaster Management Office site (went offline in 2022).
- A site for the school system.
- A telecommunications company site.
- In 2022 the Office of Commerce, Investment & Tourism briefly created a site under .mh but moved to a .org domain in late 2023.
- In 2023, a local store (Wahoo, based in Majuro) opened a website under .mh.
- Many entities in the Marshall Islands prefer to register under .com, .net or .org, and most sites tied to Marshall Islands entities are hosted outside the country.
Registration Rules
- No current, active public registry service or up-to-date registration portal is available at the listed nic.net.mh address.
- Historically, registrations were processed via email using the standard InterNIC registration form linked from the registry site.
- Sources do not provide detailed, current eligibility restrictions, minimum/maximum registration periods, or allowed-character rules.
SEO and Brand Impact
- Due to very limited usage, an inactive or outdated registry portal, and the tendency for local entities to use .com/.net/.org, .mh has low visibility and limited brand presence on the public internet.
- The small number of active .mh sites and the frequent hosting of Marshall Islands entities on foreign infrastructure suggest the TLD currently has minimal impact on wider SEO or trust compared with more widely used gTLDs.
Notable Cases or Examples
- Government Natural Disaster Management Office (.mh) — identified as active in 2021, later went offline in 2022.
- Marshall Islands school system site (.mh).
- A telecommunications company site using .mh.
- Office of Commerce, Investment & Tourism — used .mh in 2022, moved to .org in late 2023.
- Wahoo (store based in Majuro) — opened a .mh website in 2023.
Operator
Office of the Cabinet
Whois
% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object
domain: MH
organisation: Office of the Cabinet
address: P.O. Box 2
address: Majuro MH 96960
address: Marshall Islands (the)
contact: administrative
name: Secretary, Ministry of Transportation and Communications
organisation: Ministry of Transportation and Communications
address: P.O. Box 1079
address: Majuro MH 96960
address: Marshall Islands (the)
phone: +692-625-6083, +692-625-8869, +692-625-8377
fax-no: +692-625-3486
e-mail: phil.philippo@gmail.com
contact: technical
name: Chief Technical Officer
organisation: National Telecommunications Authority
address: P.O. Box 1169
address: Majuro MH 96960
address: Marshall Islands (the)
phone: +692-625-3852
fax-no: +692-625-3952
e-mail: msawej@ntamar.net
nserver: NS.AMARSHALLINC.COM 71.163.249.97
nserver: NS.NTAMAR.NET 117.103.88.33
whois:
status: ACTIVE
remarks: Registration information: http://www.nic.net.mh/
created: 1996-08-16
changed: 2013-08-03
source: IANA
