.and Domain

The .and domain extension was applied for during ICANN's 2012 New gTLD Program as a short three-character string. Strings of this length were among the most sought-after assets of the round, since brevity translates directly into shorter URLs, easier recall in broadcast and print advertising, and cleaner email addressing — advantages that are effectively impossible to obtain in long-established open extensions.

The application did not proceed to delegation. No registry agreement was ever signed, so the extension has never existed in the DNS root zone — and short strings that never reach delegation are the costliest class of loss, since brevity cannot be sourced anywhere else in the namespace. Strings in this position cannot be registered, and returning one to consideration would require a new ICANN application round.