To further ensure standard compliance of Electronic Communications Equipment (ECE), the National Communication Authority (NCA) on Wednesday launched its Type Approval Testing Laboratories.
These testing laboratories would ensure that all ECE manufactured or imported into Ghana for sale or for use are in compliance with minimum Health and Safety, Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and Radio Frequency requirements.
At the launch of the laboratories, the Director General of NCA, Joe Anokye said “in line with our vision of becoming a world class regulator, the NCA, supported by our stakeholders like the Ministry of Communications and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), has established state of the art laboratories for testing electronic communication equipment aimed at improving the ICT standardization space, particularly for conformance and market surveillance activities in Ghana, the West African sub-region and Africa at large.”
The NCA Type Approval Testing Laboratories consists of the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) Laboratory meant for measuring the amount of radiation absorbed by the body tissue when using a wireless electronic communication equipment such as mobile phones, tablets, wireless routers, walkie-talkie and lap-tops, among others.
It also has the Radio Frequency and Signalling (RF Lab) which will measure the technical requirements necessary for implementing wireless protocols – such as WLAN, WCDMA, GSM and Bluetooth, and their hand-over issues, as well as, an Electromagnetic Field Strength (EMF) Lab for measuring the radiations from Telecommunications Base stations, Television and FM transmission sites.
Furthermore, the Digital Terrestrial Television Testing Laboratory will test for the various requirements needed as Ghana gears up for a full digital terrestrial transmission (DTT) roll-out to enable the country migrate from analogue to digital television broadcasting.
Anokye said the NCA is poised to be the driving force pushing the frontiers of the Telecommunications standardization in the sub-region and the African region at large, taking into account the technological developments of our time.
By Joshua W. Amlanu