DoT may extend the mandatory testing deadline of July 1

The Department of Telecommunications will give network vendors more time for mandatory testing and certification of telecommunications equipment (MTCTE). This week, during a spate of meetings with the ministry, the industry requested DoT to extend the deadline for security testing of network equipment as local labs were not equipped for it yet. The deadline was July 1.

Sources told BusinessLine that while the industry asked for a year’s extension, DoT had not fixed a fresh deadline yet. Network vendors think local labs lwill need at least a year to be ready with the equipment and knowhow for the tests.

The industry contends that without an extended deadline, 4G and 5G network expansions will be stalled.

As the Indian government becomes more watchful of security concerns related to China, network vendors are facing newer restrictions. For instance, no network equipment imported from China can be tested, stalling their deployment indefinitely. “This will be a major blow in the deployment of 5G since our Chinese factories have the additional capacity to manufacture 5G network equipment. We will need some time as well as large volumes to localise that production in India,” said a top network vendor.

In addition to this, both Huawei and ZTE are unlikely to get the ‘trusted sources’ tag from the government, thus eliminating them from the 5G race. BusinessLine previously reported that Huawei is encountering operational difficulties in India and an operator was mulling switching some of its Huawei 4G circles to another vendor. The Hindu BusinessLine