Question : IMPORT OF TELECOM EQUIPMENT

(a) whether the Government has announced any quality standard for various telecom equipment including mobile phones imported and marketed in the country;

(b) if so, whether such quality standard has been followed and checked by the Bureau of Indian Standards;

(c) if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the Government has put restrictions for import of certain telecom equipments for foreign vendors including China;

(e) if so, the details thereof;

(f) whether some foreign companies including ZTE has been permitted to manufacture wireless broadband network equipment in India; and (g) if so, the details thereof and the pre-conditions put therefor for technology transfer?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI MILIND DEORA)

(a) to (c) Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) under Department of Telecommunications(DoT) makes the specifications/standards for telecommunication products including mobile phones. For mobile handsets Department of Telecommunications has issued instructions for compliance of the following revised SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) limit:

(i) SAR level for mobile handset shall be limited to 1.6 Watt/Kg, averaged over a mass of 1 gram of human tissue.

(ii) All the new design of mobile handsets shall comply with the SAR value of 1.6 W/kg averaged over 1 gram tissue w.e.f. 1st September, 2012. However, the mobile handsets with existing designs which are compliant with 2.0 W/Kg averaged over 10 gram tissue, may continue to co-exist up to 31st August, 2013.

(iii) From 1st September, 2013, only the mobile handsets with revised SAR value of 1.6 W/Kg would be permitted to be manufactured or imported in India for domestic market. However, as on date DoT has no regulation/standard for regulating indigenous and imported mobile phones. TEC specifications/ standards are not mandatory for telecommunication products including mobile phones imported and marketed in the country.

(d) & (e) To address the national security concerns related to telecom and telecom network from indigenous as well as imported telecom equipment including China, the DoT has issued comprehensive security guidelines by way of license amendment dated 31.05.2011 for Access Service Providers and dated 03.06.2011 for other service providers. The salient points of aforesaid Amendments to various telecom services License Agreement are at Annexure-I.

(f) & (g) As per extant policy, for the manufacture of telecom equipment including wireless broadband network equipment in India, no industrial licence is required and only Industrial Entrepreneur’s Memorandum (IEM) has to be filed with Secretariat for Industrial Assistance (SIA). Moreover, payment of any technical know-how fee and royalty for technology transfer is under automatic route.