Govt keen to set up R&D centre for telecom products

In an effort to be updated with the latest technology and products in the telecom sector, the government is keen on setting up a research and development (R&D) centre for testing of standards, methods, and certifications by high level of expertise.

In an internal meeting recently, Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasadsaid such a centre is required in the fast changing nature of the industry and multiple challenges in the form of security, health and environment.

Accreditation Board To be called National Accreditation Board for Telecom (NABT), it would have management body consisting of telecom experts to take care of specific and growing needs of both telecom and IT sectors.

Sources privy to the meeting told BusinessLine that the Minister wants the R&D centre should also address the needs for the IT sector and not only for telecom, making it easier for both the departments which work in tandem.

“There is sound justification for setting up a NABT as an autonomous body to ensure highest quality accreditation in the complex and fast changing technological field of telecom to fully reap the benefits of accreditation,” a government official said.

The official said new standards and products are being introduced at a fast pace that have impact on performance.

Also, testing standards and testing methods are complex requiring large number of tests of varied parameters and, therefore, there comes need of the NABT.

“Testing of telecommunication products requires high level of expertise which in turn requires assessors of lab to have updated domain knowledge in different areas of standards and testing methods in the fast changing environment,” the official said.

Testing labs By setting up of the NABT, it would mean the government would do away with the present testing labs which are under National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for telecom products (under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology).

It could also mean that the new centre co-ordinating with Telecom Centres of Excellence (TCoE) and Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) for certifications and assessment because at many different occasions, many tests performed by NABL team were not complete according to standards and specifications though the accreditation certificate had been issued.

Therefore, such tests had to be carried out again by Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), which under the DoT that develops telecom product specifications for seamless working of networks and devices.

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