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    • .ms

    Country-code top-level domains

    Overview

    • .ms is the Internet country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory.
    • Introduced on 6 March 1997.
    • Managed by MNI Networks Ltd; sponsor listed as Lubimal (MS) Ltd.
    • Registrations are available directly at the second level and the domain is used both for Montserrat-related sites and more broadly worldwide.

    History

    • Introduced 6 March 1997.
    • Initially administered by a UK operator (AdamNames Ltd) before redelegation to MNI Networks Ltd.
    • MNI Networks Ltd. requested redelegation on 12 May 2008; the Government of Montserrat and the previous operator supported the redelegation, which was granted by ICANN.

    Usage and Audience

    • Intended use: entities connected with Montserrat.
    • Actual use: a mix of Montserrat-based sites and global uses, notably as short-link domains by major organisations.
    • Common audiences and industries:
      • Governmental and educational organisations in Montserrat (local use).
      • Corporations and media using short, memorable links (marketing and URL-shortening).
      • Regional or local users exploiting the MS abbreviation (e.g., businesses or organisations in Mississippi, Mato Grosso do Sul, or Münster).

    Registration Rules

    • General availability: registrations are available directly at the second level; the registry lists no broad restrictions for general registrations.
    • Specific second-level constraints:
      • com.ms, net.ms, org.ms — available for worldwide registration.
      • edu.ms — reserved for valid local Montserrat educational institutions.
      • gov.ms — reserved for valid local Montserrat government departments and agencies.
    • Revocation: domain names may be revoked if used for offensive, immoral or illegal purposes, including spam.
    • Allowed characters and name length:
      • Only letters, digits and the hyphen ("-") are allowed.
      • Names cannot begin or end with a hyphen.
      • One- and two-character second-level names are permitted.
      • Maximum label length (excluding TLD) is 63 characters.
      • Minimum name length is 1 character (excluding extensions).
      • Maximum full (FQDN) length is 255 characters.
      • A name may begin with a digit.

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • The .ms domain has been used by major brands for concise, memorable short links, which helps in brand recognition and marketing (notably Microsoft and media organisations).
    • As a niche ccTLD, .ms can be used strategically for branding (e.g., short URLs) but there is no specific public information in the provided sources about search engine ranking or trust differences compared to generic TLDs.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • Microsoft: used for link shorteners and services (examples include aka.ms, ch9.ms, 1drv.ms, and mcas.ms).
    • The New York Times: uses nyti.ms for short links.
    • Political and campaign use: HRC.ms was used by Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign as a short URL.
    • Foundations and organisations:
      • keepfighting.ms — used by Michael Schumacher's family foundation.
      • arenamoves.ms — used by a Dutch foundation for multiple sclerosis.
      • obsda.ms — used by openbsd.amsterdam as a short code.
    • Regional or local usages: entities in the U.S. state of Mississippi, the Brazilian state Mato Grosso do Sul, and organisations in Münster (Germany) have made use of .ms because of the "MS" abbreviation.

    Operator

    MNI Networks Ltd.

    Whois

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

domain:       MS

organisation: MNI Networks Ltd.
address:      Olveston Drive
address:      Olveston Salem
address:      Montserrat

contact:      administrative
name:         Director, Marketing and Development
organisation: MNI Networks Ltd.
address:      Olveston Drive
address:      Olveston Salem
address:      Montserrat
phone:        +1 664 491 6386
e-mail:       info@mninet.ms

contact:      technical
name:         Chief Technical Officer
organisation: MNI Networks Ltd.
address:      Olveston Drive
address:      Olveston Salem
address:      Montserrat
phone:        +1 664 491 6386
e-mail:       regsupport@mninet.ms

nserver:      A.LACTLD.ORG 200.0.68.10 2801:14:a000:0:0:0:0:10
nserver:      MS-NS.ANYCAST.PCH.NET 2001:500:14:6033:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.33
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:     50317 8 2 a32757d135853b428cc7825f0bb88fa79f73a2fe497fb4e9f69611cc1687572a

whois:        whois.nic.ms

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

created:      1997-03-06
changed:      2024-04-17
source:       IANA

    Registrars