In total, the telecom sector regulator has given provisional type approval to 3,554 devices and periodic permanent type approval to 963 devices.
Min Prasad Aryal, spokesperson of NTA, said the regulatory body provides provisional type approval for a period of six months. It gives periodic permanent approval for five years to dealers/manufactures if they file application for the same at NTA.
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NTA provides type approval under 10 different categories. It made type approval mandatory for telecom equipment in 2008.
Data compiled by NTA shows 601 short-range devices have received provisional type approval, while 350 devices have received periodic permanent type approval. Likewise, only four CDMA devices have received provisional approval. Not a single CDMA device has received periodic permanent type approval. However, 41 CDMA mobile handsets and 3 CDMA fixed sets have received provisional type approval.
In case of GSM device, excluding mobile handsets, 44 devices have received provisional type approval and 12 have received periodic permanent approval.
Even though demand for tablet personal computers (PCs) is increasing, only 18 tablets have received periodic permanent type approval. As many as 105 tablets by different brands have received provisional approval as of mid-August, according to NTA.
In case of satellite mobile handsets, 11 sets have received provisional and five have received periodic permanent approval. Similarly, one satellite terminal has received provisional approval.
According to NTA, four WiMax devices have received provisional approval and four others have received periodic permanent type approval.
NTA provides type approval certification to telecom equipment based on a test report and certificate of conformity issued by the manufacturers and, or by NTA-approved international standardization bodies or regulatory certifying or inspecting bodies.
NTA officials say all concerned manufacturers, authorized agents, and representatives of radio telecommunication customer premises equipments (CPEs) need to receive type approval prior to their imports or sale in Nepal.
Data shows only 27 percent of the devices with provisional type approval have received periodic permanent approval.
"We are developing an online database software to make type approval certification process more effective. It will also make monitoring to telecommunication equipment easier," said Aryal.
