In January 2025, the Telecommunications Engineering Center (TEC) of India issued official letter No. 5-5/2024-TC/TEC. It contained information about updates to document requirements and protocol testing exemptions for the Passive Optical Network (PON) family of broadband equipment under the Mandatory Telecommunications Equipment Testing and Certification (MTCTE) procedure.
The exemption period for protocol testing for PON family and acceptance of the Self-Declaration of Conformity by the Applicant/OEM is valid until December 31, 2025. Then, what happens after that?
Let’s discuss the updates related to Regulation No. 5-5/2024-TC/TEC. That way, you will know whether the protocol testing exemption for PON family of broadband equipment will be extended or not.
Regulation No. 5-5/2024-TC/TEC
Regulation No. 5-5/2024-TC/TEC regarding the exemption of testing protocols for PON family of broadband equipment was issued on January 1, 2025, and is valid until July 30, 2025. The regulation was then extended again until the end of 2025.
In this latest TEC update, the status of acceptance of exemption/test/declaration of conformity reports against ER parameters for the PON Broadband Equipment family, under MTCTE, is mentioned.
Any PON interface protocol testing is exempt from submitting test reports until December 31, 2025.
For Automatic Laser Shut Down (ALS) or Automatic Power Shut Downs (APSD), self-declarations, i.e., self-declarations of conformity by the applicant/OEM, are acceptable until December 31, 2025.
Why is This Regulation Important?
The exemption from protocol testing for PON family of broadband equipment certainly benefits businesses marketing their products in India. The regulatory burden on businesses is reduced, giving them more time to meet the evolving standards for PON equipment in India.
This regulation also makes the market entry process easier. This allows businesses to achieve compliance more quickly. Direct regulatory barriers for devices such as OLTs (Optical Line Terminals) and ONTs/ONUs (Optical Network Terminals/Units) are reduced.
What About the Regulatory Update?
As is known, the protocol testing exemption for the PON family of broadband equipment is only valid until December 31, 2025. This means that the regulation has expired.
However, as of today, there has been no new announcement. Therefore, it can be expected that starting in 2026, protocol testing for PON family of broadband equipment will be mandatory again. As such, manufacturers will once again be required to comply with protocol testing for each PON interface to pass the MTCTE procedure.
Protocol Testing for PON Family
The reinstatement of protocol testing for PON family of broadband equipment will bring it back into compliance with the standards applicable in India. For the PON family of broadband equipment, this is published through Essential Requirements (ER) TEC14762407.
- Standard for protocol testing for any PON interface: As per the standards mentioned in ER.
- Automatic Laser Self-Declaration of Shut-Down (ALS) or Automatic Power Shut-Down (APSD): ITU-T G.664, IEC 60825, and Annex-A1.
That is the information related to the possible implementation of protocol testing for PON family of broadband equipment in India in 2026. This will certainly have an impact on business actors. The length of the exemption for the PON family has certainly made them oblivious to the applicable standards.
Therefore, it is important to reread ER TEC14762407 to find out the applicable standards. That way, your PON family of broadband equipment will be able to be marketed in India as it should be.