The specific question was whether or not the .to domain serves any useful purpose (such as a TLD for the Kingdom of Tonga) -- is there any reason to maintain it in the root servers?

It is Yet Another ISO CC TLD that is being whored out - since domains became commodities, ISO CCs are now "national resources". Who has a crystal ball shiny enough to see which (small) country decides to change its name to get a "better" ISO CC? And how far out that will be? Another lovely spin-off of pushing the mess up towards the root of the tree, instead of down to the leaves with further specifity. "My own opinion, etc etc disclaim disclaim" -- Joe Provo, Network Architect 508.229.8400 x3006 Commercial Internet Services Group Fax 508.229.2375 UltraNet Communications, Inc., an RCN Company <jprovo@ultra.net>