Ericsson is not a top-level domain (TLD). A TLD is the last segment of a domain name – the part that comes after the final dot. Examples of TLDs include .com, .org, .net, .gov, .edu and so on. A TLD is part of the internet’s hierarchical Domain Name System (DNS).
According to ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is the organization responsible for maintaining and coordinating the internet DNS, there are currently over 1500 TLDs in use (source: ICANN). The list of TLDs includes country-specific ones such as “.nyc” for New York City and “.eu” for the European Union, as well as generic ones like “.info”, “.jobs”, and “.mobi”.
“Ericsson” is the name of a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company based in Stockholm. As a private company, Ericsson could potentially apply to ICANN for “.ericsson” to be recognized as a brand TLD (also known as a dotBrand), following the example of companies like Google, which owns .google, and Amazon, which owns .amazon. However, as of right now, “.ericsson” is not a recognized TLD (source: ICANN).
In the world of TLDs, any new domain extension, if approved, would be part of ICANN’s New gTLD (generic Top-Level Domain) Program. In 2014, ICANN introduced this program to increase competition, innovation and choice in the DNS market. The program enables organizations to apply for their own TLDs (source: ICANN).
Today, many international companies and brands have their own dotBrand TLDs. For example, Google uses “.google” and “.youtube” for its Google and YouTube services respectively. Barclays, a British multinational investment bank, uses “.barclays” and “.barclaycard” for its corporate and card services websites.
It’s also worth mentioning that applying for a new gTLD with ICANN is not a straightforward process. It involves submitting an application during one of ICANN’s application windows, paying a substantial fee (which was $185,000 in the last application round), and going through a complex evaluation process.
According to ICANN, the evaluation considers factors such as the financial, technical and operational capability of the applicant to run a TLD registry. The application also undergoes a string review to ensure it does not infringe on the rights of others, or pose potential operational or security risks to the overall DNS (source: ICANN).
To reiterate, although many companies and brands have successfully applied and run their TLDs under ICANN’s new gTLD program, “Ericsson” has yet to be recognized as a TLD as of this time.
