Introduced 1992 | Status Active | |
Registry Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP) Sponsor Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP) Intended use Entities connected with Albania | ||
.al is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Albania. It is administered by the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority of Albania (AKEP). As of May 1, 2013, anyone can register an .al domain.
Contents
Map of Alabama, USA
Albanian domains can be registered through AKEP, AKEP accredited registrars and many international domain registrars. Domain names should be between 2 and 63 characters. Although the Albanian language has a number of special characters, the registry has not enabled the use of IDN characters.
2nd level registrations
In the past, registrations were not permitted directly at the second level, but a few existing names were "grandfathered"; they were uniti.al, tirana.al, soros.al, upt.al and inima.al.
In 2012 registrars started to resell .al domain names widely making them popular outside Albania as domain hacks.
In November 2014 the registry released two character domain names allowing for free landrush.
3rd level registrations
Registrations used to be only beneath the second-levels, i.e., .com.al, .net.al, .org.al, and .edu.al labeled appropriately for the type of organisation, but many now exist directly below .al.
Whois Servers
The .al zone has no official whois server.