.tm

Overview

• .tm is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Turkmenistan.
• It is marketed both for entities connected with Turkmenistan and sometimes as a domain for trademark owners because of the "TM" abbreviation.
• The registry operates under the NIC.TM / TM Domain Registry identity and supports Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and DNSSEC.

History

• Introduced: 30 May 1997 (delegation/implementation recorded May 30, 1997).
• Registry/management: NIC.TM / TM Domain Registry Ltd are cited as operating/ managing the .tm registry. The management has involved organizations such as Community DNS Ltd and Internet Computer Bureau; CSC Digital Brand Services is named as a sponsor in registry records.
• Since 2020, domain registration services in Turkmenistan have been provided by the Türkmen Domen Economic Society (Türkmen Domen ES), founded under the Coordination Center of the National Domain of Turkmenistan.
• The registry publishes terms, rules and a dispute resolution policy on nic.tm.

Usage and Audience

• Intended for entities connected with Turkmenistan, but actual use includes a variety of registrants both inside and outside Turkmenistan.
• Marketed and used by some businesses for trademark-related branding due to the common meaning of "TM" (trademark).
• Typical audiences include government, education, military, commercial organizations and internet-related businesses.

Registration Rules

• Direct second-level registrations: no residency restriction for registering directly under .tm (applicants may reside in any legal jurisdiction).
• Third-level registrations under country second-level labels: registrant must be resident in Turkmenistan.
• Other restrictions and rules (as published by NIC.TM / registry rules):
  • Domains must not be used for sexual/pornographic purposes, for activities contrary to statutory laws of any nation, or for originating/redirecting spam.
  • Two nameservers are required at time of request; at least one nameserver must be physically located in Turkmenistan for certain registrations.
  • Two-character names within a third-level domain are allowed (e.g., "3x.com.tm").
  • One-letter third-level domains are reserved for potential future sub-domain usage.
  • Registrations support many characters and scripts (IDN support) per NIC.TM IDN policy.
• Registration mechanics:
  • Domains may be bought directly from the registry or via accredited registrars (the registry lists registrars across multiple countries).
  • Transfers between accredited registrars use an Auth-Code.
• DNSSEC: supported (DNSSEC: yes).

SEO and Brand Impact

• The .tm extension is often positioned as attractive for trademark-related branding because "TM" is widely associated with trademarks; this can be used as a brand positioning advantage.
• No additional authoritative statements about search-engine ranking or trust levels are provided in the source material.

Notable Cases or Examples

• Common second-level labels include:
  • gov.tm — Turkmen government
  • edu.tm — education
  • mil.tm — Turkmen military
  • co.tm / com.tm — commercial organizations
  • net.tm — Internet-related organizations
• Registry/market data:
  • As of November 2023, the total number of domain names registered in Turkmenistan was reported as 1,034.
  • The registry maintains a list of accredited registrars (registrars from multiple countries) and publishes statistics and the full domain list via the Türkmen Domen ES / registry websites.

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

domain:       TM

organisation: TM Domain Registry Ltd
address:      180-182 Tottenham Court Road
address:      London W1T 7PD
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         Batyr Karryev
organisation: TM Domain Registry Ltd
address:      180-182 Tottenham Court Road
address:      London W1T 7PD
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)
phone:        +993 12 398729
fax-no:       +993 12 353692
e-mail:       batyr@nic.tm

contact:      technical
name:         Hostmaster
organisation: TM Domain Registry Ltd
address:      180-182 Tottenham Court Road
address:      London W1T 7PD
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)
fax-no:       +44 1225 580 550
e-mail:       hostmaster@nic.tm

nserver:      NS-A1.TM 194.0.1.22 2001:678:4:0:0:0:0:16
nserver:      NS-A2.TM 194.0.2.22 2001:678:5:0:0:0:0:16
nserver:      NS-A3.TM 74.116.178.22
nserver:      NS-A4.TM 74.116.179.22
nserver:      NS-D1.TM 2607:feb8:0:0:0:0:5:8 64.251.31.180
nserver:      NS-L1.TM 2a13:f040:0:0:4000:0:0:44 80.249.100.44
nserver:      NS-Y1.TM 2604:a00:50:1fd:0:0:0:22 91.208.95.22
ds-rdata:     36787 8 2 af4a3a54aa5f73c114f9c6e4d9c3ef0040e387806a9f92ae85276ff38f33bcb5

whois:        whois.nic.tm

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

created:      1997-05-30
changed:      2025-06-18
source:       IANA