Standardisation in India

1. Joint ITU-GISFI Workshop on “Bridging the Standardization Gap: Workshop on Sustainable Rural Communications”(Bangalore, India, 17-18 December 2012) Standardisation in India Arun Golas DDG (T&A) TEC, DoT, India ddgt.tec@gov.in

2. Agenda • Standards • Standardisation in India • Current Position • Way Forward

3. Standards • What is a standard? • Requirements of user • Actual requirement for the intended purpose • Quality • Quantity • Safety & Security • Is cost the decisive factor? • Do we bother about quality? • Quality is commensurate with cost

4. Need for Standards • Ensure conformance to desired requirements • Ensure quality • Ensure Repeatability for • Manufacturer • User • No compromise, even unknowingly or unwittingly, with • Personal safety • Personal security • Pocket

5. Telecom • Two-way communication • Anyone • Anytime • Anywhere • Any Screen • Predefined protocols essential for every device

6. Necessity of standards for telecom devices? • Can never be a stand-alone device • Have to interwork with other devices • Must follow pre-defined protocols for any service or application • Conformance for • Performance • Interoperability • EMI/EMC/EMF • Safety • Security • Health • No necessity of legislation, as standardisation is ‘the’ only way to ensure performance

7. Standardisation in India • Creation of National Standards • Harmonisation of International Standards • Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) • All products, except telecom • Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) • All telecom products • Formulates technical requirements • Tests and certifies telecom products, interfaces, and networks • Telecom arm of DoT • Represents Government of India in international telecom bodies

8. Application of Standards in India • No mandatory checks for conformance to standards • No mandatory certification before induction in telecom network • Products may ‘not’ conform to all the desired specifications • May not interwork properly • May cause harm to other equipment or user • Standardisation promotes, anddoes not hinder development in telecom • Market is mature now

9. Way Forward • Shift focus from urban to rural • Bottoms-up approach • C-DoT RAX Model • Aspirations will guide the developments • Rural-centric • Network, Equipment, Services, Content, User Interfaces • Innovate – Ingenuous designs, conform to standards • New services, applications, protocols • Affordability • Energy/power, environment • Capacity building • Set-up labs for development and testing of products • Train man-power

10. Mandatory Certification • All telecom equipment to be tested and certified before induction in Indian telecom network • Minimum parameters to be tested – conformance to standards, user and network safety, and integrity • Changes in Telegraph Rules and Licenses to implement the scheme • Testing by Conformance Assessment Bodies (CAB) • Certification by Certification Body (CB) – TEC • Use of Certifying Logo • Surveillance

11. Way Forward forDevelopment of Standards • Motivate stakeholders (R&D centres, manufacturers, service providers, academia, users, etc.) to collaborate and channelize R&D activities for development of standards/IPRs for new products and services • Involve all academia and R&D centres for telecom products and services • Motivate stakeholders to participate in developmental process of standards in national and international forums • Participate in National Working Group (NWG) meetings in DoT/TEC to agree upon national stance on a particular standard • Participate in International Forums, like ITU, to project ‘national’ standard

12. Establishment of SDO • Establish a national telecom Standards Development Organisation, to focus on the country-specific requirements, especially on rural networks. • Draw synergy of all the stakeholders, viz., R&D centres, manufacturers, service providers, academia, users, etc. • Drive consensus on the deliverables • Focus energies on specific products and services to work on, and evolve • Suitable methodologies for transfer-of-technology, manufacturing and commercialisation thereof • Suitable mechanism for handling IPRs, without stifling the growth • New standards, national requirements, etc.

13. Development of new Standards and Products • Research on a new product or service, based on new specifications • Develop prototype • Lab testing for conformance, performance, interoperability, etc. • Field trial and validation • File IPR • Validate the new specifications as new standards – TEC • Generate revenue for the survival of entire process • Manufacturing • Commercialisation • Deployment

14. Conclusions & Recommendations • Bridge Standardisation Gap • Enforce conformance to all standards • Enhance R&D and Manufacturing • Draw synergy of all stakeholders in development and formulation of standards through national telecom SDO • Regularly participate and take proactive stance in international forums to project national perspective

15. Thank you ddgt.tec@gov.in arun.golas@gov.in