.com.so Domain: Somalia's Commercial Namespace and Rules
.com.so is the commercial namespace under Somalia's country code extension .so, and the registry states its purpose plainly: business and trade. It is run by SONIC, the Somali Network Information Centre, based in Mogadishu. The namespace was created alongside the registry relaunch on 31 October 2010. The rulebook in force is version 1.1 of the .SO Domain Name Registration Policies, which names .com.so explicitly; there is no separate registry and no separate agreement.
Registration asks for no presence in Somalia, no local contact and no documents; the registry treats this namespace as open and available through every accredited registrar. Its siblings .org.so and .so sit under the same registry and the same rulebook.
Names run 3 - 63 characters and terms 1 - 10 years; one- and two-character names are closed by registry policy. Check where a name stands today from the domain check page. If you already hold a .com.so name with another provider, start the handover from the domain transfer page.
.COM.SO Domain at a Glance
- Registry SONIC — Somali Network Information Centre, Mogadishu
- Namespace created 31 October 2010 (registry relaunch)
- Rules in force .SO Domain Name Registration Policies, version 1.1
- Registry's stated purpose Commercial namespace for business and trade
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .com.so domain
- Country Somalia
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.com.so Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$80.99 /year -
Transfer
$81.00 /year -
Renewal
$94.49 /year -
Restore
$260.00 -
Late Renewal
$16.20
Included With Every .com.so Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
.com.so Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: for .com.so the post-expiry timeline is set by the registry, so it differs from one extension to the next. The diagram below shows the windows that actually apply to .com.so, day by day. One thing never changes, whichever extension you hold: renewing before the expiry date is always the cheapest and safest route.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .com.so address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Redemption Period (Redemption Period)
The domain is not released the moment it expires — during this window it is still yours and can be recovered. Some extensions charge an extra restore fee at this stage, so renewing before expiry is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete Period (Pending Delete Period)
If the redemption window is missed too, the domain enters the final stage and waits to be deleted. Renewal and recovery are no longer possible here; when the period ends the registration is removed for good.
Domain Is Available Again
Once deletion completes, the domain leaves the system and anyone can register it — popular names are often taken the same minute by someone watching. Keep auto-renewal on so a name you care about never gets this far.
.com.so Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.com.so Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .com.so domain
- Country Somalia
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.com.so Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .com.so Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No. The registry describes .com.so as an open namespace available through every accredited registrar, and it asks for no incorporation in Somalia, no residency, no local contact and no documents. Eligibility checks exist only for the federal state namespaces and the official zones .gov.so and .edu.so. Private individuals may register as well, since the registry does not require a legal entity for this namespace.
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On paper there is none: both are namespaces of the same registry, under the same rulebook, the same expiry chain and the same minimum length. The difference is only in purpose: .com.so is for business and trade, while .org.so is the sibling namespace for organisations.
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Three characters. Name length is 3 - 63 characters; one- and two-character names are closed by registry policy, so labels such as a.com.so or zq.com.so cannot be registered, whereas three-letter names are on sale. The same floor applies on .so and .org.so; no zone gets an exception.
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Registration terms run 1 - 10 years, and renewal works over the same range, each renewal pushing the expiry date out by the term chosen. A one-year term and a multi-year term follow the same rules. The benefit of a longer term is directly practical: a thinner renewal calendar reduces the risk of missing a deadline.
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The name does not disappear straight away. The registry publishes the post-expiry chain day by day: on the expiry date the name auto-renews into a 45-day window, and if that is missed a 30-day redemption stage begins, followed only then by a five-day pending-delete wait. That gives you a total recovery span of 75 days. Redemption can carry a different fee, so it is worth renewing before the expiry date. The registry also defines separate five-day grace periods for new registrations, renewals and transfers.
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No personal data about the holder at all. The registry server whois.nic.so uses a thin schema: the response carries only the domain itself, the registry object ID, the creation and expiry dates, the last update, EPP status codes, the name servers and the registrar's details. Name, address, telephone and e-mail fields are never published. The practical result is that you do not need to buy a separate privacy service. Run a lookup from the whois search page.
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A transfer is a defined step in the registry lifecycle and carries its own five-day grace period. The mechanics are standard EPP: the transfer lock on the name must be off, and you pass the authorisation code from your current provider to the new one. You can read the lock state straight out of a WHOIS lookup — a locked name shows a clientTransferProhibited line. Start yours from the domain transfer page.
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