Telecom gear vendors like Nokia, Huawei and ZTE have said that TEC’s move to put mandatory testing and certification for wireline equipment on hold will impact deployments in the country. The Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) informed all vendors through notices that certifications issued have been put on hold till further notice due to “anomaly” found in the process of phase-II of Mandatory Testing and Certification of Telecommunication Equipment (MTCTE) regime. Under the phase-2, telecom equipment makers were supposed to get certification for transmission terminal equipment, passive optical network family (PON) of broadband equipment and feedback devices.
 

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Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) announced it has introduced Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technology in its smart meters. The private power distributor has so far installed 230,000 smart meters on the Radio Frequency (RF) technology. The company said the "first-of-its-kind" technology integration has been done involving meter manufacturers and NB-IoT service of Reliance-Jio Network. "NB-IoT is a new and cost-effective technology in 4G and 5G spectrum with fast deployment quality.

The government has started inviting applications for the second round of large-scale electronics manufacturing under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme with focus on some electronic components like motherboards boards   semiconductor devices, among others. The application window for the scheme has been opened till March 31 which may be further extended, as per guidelines issued by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity).

The Union Cabinet approved the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for air conditioners (ACs) and light-emitting diode (LED) lights with an aim to boost the local component supply ecosystem for these items. Under the new PLI, a sum of Rs 6,238 crore (€73 billion) has been approved as incentives to selected manufacturers over a five-year period starting 2021-22.  Since last April, the cabinet, headed by Prime Minister, has approved PLI for five sectors. But unlike the previous ones the latest scheme solely focuses on component manufacturing.

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The Indian government has finalized PLI norms for the telecom and network equipment manufacturing. The cabinet had recently approved the broader PLI scheme worth Rs 12,200 crore (€1.4 billion)  to boost local manufacturing of telecom gear for both the domestic market and exports. The scheme will cover core transmission equipment, 4G/5G and next-generation radio access network and wireless equipment, access and customer premise equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) access devices, and enterprise equipment such as switches and router.The Indian government has finalized PLI norms for the telecom and network equipment manufacturing. The cabinet had recently approved the broader PLI scheme worth Rs 12,200 crore (€1.4 billion)  to boost local manufacturing of telecom gear for both the domestic market and exports. The scheme will cover core transmission equipment, 4G/5G and next-generation radio access network and wireless equipment, access and customer premise equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) access devices, and enterprise equipment such as switches and router.

Prime Minister said production linked incentive scheme, which is aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing and exports, is expected to increase the country's production by USD 520 billion in the next five years. In this year's Budget, about Rs 2 lakh crore was earmarked for the PLI scheme for the next five years and "there is an expectation that the scheme would result in increasing the production by about USD 520 billion in the next five years".  There is also an expectation that the current workforce in the sectors, which will avail the benefits of the PLI scheme, will be doubled and job creation will also increase.