The Indian government is likely to defer local screening of imported telecom products used in mobile networks by another year. The move comes after the country is yet to develop a suitable facility, which is capable of testing nearly $7 billion of imported telecom equipment in India every year.

The gear testing of imported equipment in locally accredited test labs was scheduled to start from July 1, 2014. However, this date is now set to be extended by nine months to an year.

Earlier, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had originally mandated operators to use only those network devices certified safe by an authorised test lab in India from April 1, 2013. However, the exercise has been stalled several times since, as the lab that will serve as the clearing house is yet to be developed.

However, the government is now taking steps to expedite the process of establishing such labs. To this end, the DoT will initially allow 74 per cent foreign ownership in local telecom gear test labs, with a rider that foreign holdings will need to be reduced to 49 per cent in three years. Meanwhile, the government continues to be averse to allowing global telecom operators and network gear vendors to set up local test labs in India.