Telecom Lead India: The US government wants India to review its domestic testing policy on telecom equipments.
The US Trade Representative (USTR) said in a report that the US Government and industry continue to press India to reconsider the domestic testing policy and to adopt the international best practice of using international common criteria and accepting products tested in any accredited lab, whether located in India or elsewhere.
The annual report of the USTR on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) referred to unwarranted or overly burdensome standards that make it difficult for American manufacturers to sell their products abroad, PTI reported.
According to the report, in 2009 and 2010, India imposed new requirements in telecom service licenses, including mandatory transfer of technology and source codes as well as burdensome testing and certification for telecom equipment.
Following extensive engagement with trading partners including the United States, India eliminated most of these requirements in 2011.
“In doing so, however, India adopted new telecommunications license amendments that continue to require, among other things, that as of April 2013, testing of all telecommunications equipment deemed to raise security concerns take place in India,” the report said.
Meanwhile, TechNavio’s analysts forecast the global software testing services market in the telecom sector to grow at a CAGR of 7.67 percent over the period 2012-2016.
One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increased availability of testing applications. The global software testing services market in the telecom sector has also been witnessing a shifting focus toward cloud-based testing. However, the difficulty of intellectual property protection could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.
