According to a notification by the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), the government has again extended the deadline for complying with the mandatory testing and certification of telecommunication equipment (MTCTE) rules for 12 out of 44 key telecom gears to April 1, 2024. However, the MTCTE rules will largely come into effect from January 1, 2024.
The MTCTE guidelines provide that every telecom equipment must undergo mandatory testing and certification before it is put into sale and used for network rollouts. The implementation of such a regime is key to ensuring that only quality and secured equipment are used in the networks.
The 12 telecom equipments for which the rules will kick in from April 1, 2024 include, routers, satellite communication equipment, smart electricity meters, base stations for cellular networks, internet protocol (IP) security equipment, local area network (LAN) switches, and mobile radio trunking systems, among others.
The deadline for these equipments is a relief for telcos as currently they are rolling out 5G networks across the country. The mandatory testing and certification of equipment could delay the process of network deployments for them.
