Before .ss was successfully registered, the country's Undersecretary for Telecommunications had initially been concerned about the ccTLD request's possible rejection due to SS also being an abbreviation for Schutzstaffel, the paramilitary force of Nazi Germany.[4]
Before the independence of South Sudan, the applicable domain was .sd, Sudan's top-level Internet domain.
Registration of .ss domain names launched in three phases starting 1 June 2020, with general availability starting 1 September 2020.[5][6]
Second-level domains
There also exist a number of second-level domains:
.com.ss – open to all applicants (intended for commercial entities)
.biz.ss – any business entity
.net.ss – for network operators
.org.ss – for South Sudan NGOs
.edu.ss – for South Sudan higher educational institutions
.sch.ss – for South Sudan secondary and primary schools
.me.ss – for personal websites (name.me.ss)
.gov.ss – for South Sudan government entities only