Approved by ICANN on 9th of June, 2006, will be added to the root zone shortly.

ICANN, last week announced that the Åland Islands country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) .ax has become operational.

The announcement follows formal approval of the new ccTLD by the ICANN Board on the 9th of June, 2006 and addition of the .ax domain to the root zone shortly afterwards.

The Åland Islands is an autonomous province of Finland, representing a cluster of 6,500 islands located in the Baltic sea between the mainlands of Sweden and Finland. Its population of 26,200 inhabits 65 of the islands and speaks Swedish as their primary language. .AX will make the Åland Islands more visible on the Internet. A report on the delegation of .AX can be found here.