The .io domain isn't going anywhere anytime soon amid treaty

UK-Mauritius handshake holds but Chagos Islands shift could eventually phase out the ccTLD

The .io country code top-level domain (ccTLD) will not disappear anytime soon, at least not within the next five years. Beyond that, its future is uncertain.

Countries, territories, and the like have letter codes and these have been used as the basis for internet domains. The United States, for example, has the .us domain. The British Indian Ocean Territory, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, has the .io domain.

However, now that the British Indian Ocean Territory, the official name for the Chagos Archipelago, is set to vanish from the map, the owners of the more than 1.6 million .io websites await word on the fate of the territory's domain.

Last week, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius announced a treaty to transfer the sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius. The change in administration raises questions about the future of the .io territorial identifier.

The British Indian Ocean Territory was delegated the .io domain in 1997, and assuming the UK-Mauritius treaty is signed and ratified next year as planned, that territorial code may be affected.

In theory, the change of sovereignty should lead to the retirement of the .io domain. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) says as much on its website.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees IANA, sounds a bit less sure.

"ICANN relies on the ISO 3166-1 standard to make determinations on what is an eligible country-code top-level domain," an organization spokesperson told The Register. "Currently, the standard lists the British Indian Ocean Territory as 'IO'. Assuming the standard changes to reflect this recent development, there are multiple potential outcomes depending on the nature of the change.

"One such change may involve ensuring there is an operational nexus with Mauritius to meet certain policy requirements. Should 'IO' no longer be retained as a coding for this territory, it would trigger a 5-year retirement process described at [the IANA website], during which time registrants may need to migrate to a successor code or an alternate location.

"We cannot comment on what the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency may or may not do in response to this development. It is worth noting that the ISO 3166-1 standard is not just used for domain names, but many other applications. The need to modify or retain the 'IO' encoding may be informed by needs associated with those other purposes, such as for Customs, passports, and banking applications."

The Register asked the International Standards Organization (ISO) to comment but we've not heard back.

No change has been made to the ISO's IO record since 2018, and it would be unlikely for any such change to be made prior to the signature and ratification of the treaty next year. So in 2025, the five-year clock might start ticking.

But political changes do not necessarily lead to the removal of the associated country code. The .su country code still exists despite the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and more than 100,000 .su domains are said to be active.

Those overseeing .io domains can expect that Bellevue, Washington-based Identity Digital, which administers the .io ccTLD through its UK-based subsidiary Internet Computer Bureau, will make some effort to maintain its business.

"Identity Digital is the registry service provider for .io and continues to support the management, reliability and security of the TLD," a spokesperson told The Register. "Our platform operates on systems throughout the world, and we manage many other global ccTLDs. We will continue to support .io’s responsible and reliable operation for its many users and uses now and in the future." ®