The top-level domain (TLD) “.et” is the country code assigned to Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country. The “.et” TLD is managed by Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation. Country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) like “.et” are Internet domain name extensions that are specifically reserved for countries or territories. These are typically two letters long, and in this specific instance, ‘ET’ stands for Ethiopia.
Under the .et domain, there are several second-level domains which are categorized according to the institutions they represent. These include “.gov.et” for Government institutions, “.edu.et” for Educational institutions, “.org.et” for Non-profit organizations, “.com.et” for Commercial institutions, and “.net.et” for Network infrastructures.
For example, the official website of Addis Ababa University – one of the biggest and the oldest universities in Ethiopia – uses the .et TLD extension in its URL: www.aau.edu.et. Similarly, the Ethiopian News Agency, a government agency, uses the URL www.ena.et to represent its digital presence.
While this standard is largely adhered to, not every website within the .et domain strictly pertains to Ethiopian sources. In some cases, non-residents can register a .et domain as there are no requirements to be locally based, although some restrictions might apply depending on the second-level domain. In other words, while the .et domain extension primarily indicates affiliation with Ethiopia, the extent of this affiliation may vary.
Regarding the issue of control, the management and operation of the .et domain name is coordinated by the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, Ethiopia’s lone telecom company as per guidelines laid out by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a U.S.-based organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and methodologies of several databases, with unique identifiers, related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet.
To sum up, the top-level domain .et is indicative of Ethiopia, and it’s primarily employed by a range of institutions within the nation, including governmental, educational, commercial, and non-profit organizations. However, ownership of .et domain is by no means strictly tied to physical presence within Ethiopia. The guiding authority responsible for the management of the domain name is the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, operating under the guidelines provided by ICANN.
Sources:
1. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. (n.d.). ICANN. https://www.icann.org/
2. Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation. (n.d.). Ethio telecom. https://www.ethiotelecom.et/
3. Addis Ababa University. (n.d.). AAU. http://www.aau.edu.et/
4. Ethiopian News Agency. (n.d.). ENA. https://www.ena.et?.
