On September 19, 2024, the Telecommunications Engineering Centre of India (TEC) issued a notice announcing the amendment to Article 5.4 of the Test and Certification Procedures v3.0 of MTCTE (TEC 93009:2024). The updated terms indicate that a combination of individual devices manufactured to form a system will not be certified under MTCTE, but rather that each individual device should be certified individually.

Click this link to view the original TEC notice.

On July 1, 2024, the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) of India issued a notice extending the mandatory certification date for 5 categories of products (ERs) below MTCTE Phase III, Phase IV and Phase V to October 1, 2024: Smart Meters (Phase III), Satellite Communication Equipment (Phase IV), 5G Cellular Base Stations (Phase V), Hipervisor (Phase V), IP Terminals (Phase V). In addition, the final acceptance date of test reports issued by signatories to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) for non-land-bordering countries will be extended to September 30, 2024 for 5 types of products: 4G and below base stations, 5G base stations, SIM, VHF/UHF wireless equipment and E-band fixed wireless relay systems.

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The Telecommunications Engineering Centre of India (TEC) published the TEC 93009:2024 Mandatory Test and Certification Procedure for Telecommunications Equipment (MTCTE) Version 3.0 on 3 April 2024. This new release includes the following major updates:

• The validity of regular MTCTE certificates has been extended from 5 to 10 years;
• Revised MTCTE TEC labeling requirements;
• For government agencies, the certification fee is waived, and the test report evaluation fee is cancelled;
• Updated definitions for fiber optic cable series and related models;
• Update the report upload requirements in the SCS scheme;
• Safety requirements under MTCTE may be accepted with a valid certificate issued by BIS or a test report from a BIS accredited laboratory;
• MTCTE can accept Certificate of Approval of Source (SAC);
• Clarified the definition of end-of-life/end-of-sale of a replacement product under the complete warranty;
• CAB test reports specifying the General Requirements (GR)/Interface Requirements (IR) for ER parameters under MTCTE will be accepted
• The relevant requirements of ITSAR were announced.

Click this link to view the original article of TEC 93009:2024.

On 4 April 2024, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) launched a public consultation on the auction of spectrum in the bands 37-37.5 GHz, 37.5-40 GHz and 42.5-43.5 GHz identified by International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT).

Click on this link to view the original consultation. The public consultation is open for comments until 2 May 2024.

On March 28, 2024, the Indian Telecommunications Engineering Centre (TEC) issued a notice numbered 1-6/2022-TC/TEC extending the mandatory security testing period for Wi-Fi CPE and IP routers under the MTCTE certification scheme from April 1, 2024 to July 1, 2024.

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On 1 April 2024, the Indian Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) issued a notice numbered 5-2/2021-TC/TEC/192 to postpone the mandatory implementation date of some products in Phase III and Phase IV to August 1, 2024, as follows:

• The mandatory date for cellular communication base stations and smart meters for Phase-III has been postponed to August 1, 2024, and the mandatory date for SIM, mobile radio trunking system, VHF/UHF wireless system equipment, PTP PMP microwave fixed wireless system, LAN switch, router, IP security equipment, and satellite communication equipment for Phase-IV has been postponed to August 1, 2024
• For cellular base stations, SIM, VHF/UHF wireless system equipment, and satellite communication equipment, TEC can accept reports issued by ILAC authorized laboratories in non-land bordering countries with India between March 31, 2024 and July 31, 2024.

Click this link to view the original TEC notice.

On January 8, 2024, the Telecommunication Engineering Centre of India (TEC) issued a circular No. 5-5/2021-TC/TEC announcing the submission of a general exemption for test reports on test parameters and interfaces of some ERs under MTCTE. This waiver has been extended until June 30, 2024, or until further notice. The exemption applies to the following equipment-related parameters: Media Gateways, Mobile Wireless Trunking Systems, Cellular Network Repeaters, Precision Timing Protocol Master Clock Devices, VHF UHF Radio System Equipment, Radio Broadcast Receivers, PON Series Broadband Devices, ADSLx, VDSLx, Routers.

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The Telecom Engineering Center (TEC) of India announced on December that the mandatory date for security testing of Wi-Fi CPE and IP Routers has been extended for and additional three months.  In the postponement announcement issued on June 12, 2023, the TEC has postponed the mandatory safety testing, which was originally scheduled to begin on July 1, 2023, to January 1, 2024, and has now been rescheduled to begin on April 1, 2024. As of April 1, 2024, TEC will begin accepting online applications for security certifications through the integrated MTCTE and NCCS portals.

Click this link to view the original TEC announcement.

As part of the modifications to the previous Official Circulars 5-2/2021-TC/TEC/131 and 5-2/2021-TC/TEC/172, the Indian Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) issued Circular No. 5-2/2021-TC/TEC/185 on 27 December 2023 to amend the testing and certification requirements for telecommunication and network equipment in Phases 3 and 4 of the MTCTE regime as follows:

• Extend the mandatory certification date for 12 of the 44 products covered by MTCTE Phase III and IV by three months, i.e. from 1 January 2024 to 1 April 2024. The list of 12 products is shown in Annex 1 of the Circular;
• The mandatory certification date of the remaining 32 products remains unchanged, i.e. January 1, 2024. The list is set out in Annex II of the Circular
• For the 8 products mentioned in Annex III, the last acceptance date for test reports issued by laboratories accredited by ILAC signatories in non-border sharing countries will be extended by 3 months to 31 March 2024.

Click this link to view the original TEC announcement.