The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has deferred the mandatory broadband gear testing and certification rule. This rule entailed that sellers must test and certify the broadband equipment they are placing in the Indian market from abroad for safety and security. There's a good reason why the government has pushed the implementation of this security rule for some time now. If you are aware, the Indian government is currently in talks with the United States (US) for lowering the tariffs. The US increased the tariffs on Indian goods and this will affect the exports from India.
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US companies had said earlier that mandatory testing and certification of optical network terminal (ONT) and optical line terminal (OLT) makes it costly for them to sell their products in India. Amid the talks with the US on tariffs, the government has decided that it will defer the implementation of the testing and ceritification rule for some time, said a PTI report.
The government had earlier set April 1 as the date for the implementation of the rule. But now that date has been changed to September 1, 2025, six months forward.
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The order from the DoT said, "Subsequently, from September 1, 2025, such products shall be mandatorily certified for their compliance to ITSAR (Indian Telecom Security Assurance Requirements) under the ComSec scheme."
OLTs are products that are installed on the end of the broadband service provider (like Jio, Airtel, Excitel, etc), while ONTs are installed on the end of the user for accessing the services. The testing and certification rule was announced to ensure that Indian consumers are safe and national security is maintained. The government wants to negotiate the tariffs with US, and for that, this measure likely needed to be taken.
