Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) has played a crucial role in the telecom ecosystem of India in capacity of the technical wing of the Department of Telecommunications. TEC is committed to develop standards for the telecommunication sector in India, to ensure development of world class telecom network and smooth interconnection of individual networks.
TEC provides technical support to DOT and other government departments and formulates technical specifications in the form of standards of various telecommunication technologies for telecom equipments, networks, systems and services to be deployed in Indian Telecom Network, in harmony with International Standards after wide stakeholder consultations. During formulation of above mentioned documents, ‘Test Schedule Test Procedure’ (TSTP) is also prepared to carry out testing and certification of the equipment. It also discharges its function as a testing & certification body.
As a part of the endeavour to be in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat, a national vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, TEC has made available all technical documents including all Standards and Test Schedule and Test Procedures (TSTP), to public freely without any costs with effect from 16th September 2020. These documents can now be downloaded freely from TEC website. Any industry, academicians, students, start-up entrepreneurs can freely download and use these technical standards in their respective areas of works. Free flow of technical standards shall stimulate the industry in research, design, testing, manufacturing, etc.
From October 2019, TEC has started Conformance Testing and Certification against Essential Requirements, under Mandatory Testing & Certification of Telecom Equipment (MTCTE) Scheme. The Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules, 2017, provides that every telecom equipment must undergo prior mandatory testing and certification. TEC is the nodal agency for MTCTE and testing is carried out by Labs accredited by TEC.
TEC is actively participating in the meetings of standards development organizations, viz., ITU, ETSI, APT, WRC, etc. and also interacts with other international fora, viz., 3GPP, ETSI, IETF, One M2M, etc. TEC proactively interacts with stakeholders and industry associations, viz., COAI, ISPAI, BIF, TEPC, VSAI, TEMA, CMAI, FICCI, CII, etc.
TEC has developed a Standards Coordination Portal with the prtimary objective of increasing India's involvement in global standardization activities. This portal acts as a platform for sharing information and promoting collaboration in the telecom and related ICT domains. It brings together Indian experts from various sectors, including industry, academia, research institutes, government, and others.
The portal facilitates Indian contributions to different Global Standardization Organizations and Standards Development Organizations (SDOs). Currently, it is associated with National Working / Study Groups (NWGs/NSGs/SGs) corresponding to ITU-T/ITU-R/ITU-D Study Groups, and is being expanded to other Global Standardization Organizations such as IEEE, 3GPP, etc.
The portal is designed to be modular, responsive, user-friendly, and configurable to accommodate multiple Standardization Organizations. Registered members and contributors can access information from all National Groups through this portal. They can also upload and revise their contributions and view/download contributions from other members. In essence, the portal acts as a knowledge repository and a collaboration platform for standardization activities.