On 4/13/2005, Don Gies wrote:
We are beginning a certification project of telecommunication network equipment to be deployed in the Republic of South Africa. We are working with the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to comply with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa Act of 2000. Hi Don: I am working on a South Africa approval right now, and I have been involved with several others over the last 15 years. In the past, South Africa approvals have been a bit difficult, partly because the approval process was administered by the local phone monopoly. Sometimes the approval process was not as transparent as it should be. Over the last few years, steps have been taken to separate the standards-writing process and the approval process from the local phone monopoly. The formation of ICASA was a good step in that direction, although ICASA still relies on several old DPT and SATRA specifications that contain some questionable requirements. ICASA has authorized a few outside labs, such as KTL in Hull, UK, to perform official testing for various standards. You will have to check the ICASA web site to determine which labs are authorized to test to the standards you require. I hope I don't get flamed for saying this, but my experience has been that it is easier to work with one of these outside labs than it is to work with South Africa's Telkom SA lab. Regarding the technical requirements themselves, I would need to know more about the type of equipment you have before I could highlight any specific requirements that might be troublesome. Most of the technical requirements are fairly straightforward, though they tend to be more comprehensive than the requirements in most other countries. One area where the South Africa requirements are more difficult than other countries is lightning immunity. South Africa has a severe lightning environment, and their regulatory requirements contain difficult (and sometimes confusing) requirements for lightning immunity. Once these requirements are properly understood, they can usually be met without resorting to extraordinary measures. Feel free to contact me offline if you would like to discuss any of this in more detail. Joe Randolph Telecom Design Consultant Randolph Telecom, Inc. 781-721-2848 (USA) [email protected] http://www.randolph-telecom.com <http://www.randolph-telecom.com/> ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
