FCC Grants More Authority to TCBs
November, 2006: Baltimore, MD
In a FCC/TCB meeting in October, the FCC announced some changes to what TCBs (Telecommunication Certification Body) are allowed to do. Below are some highlights related to GSM, WLAN, and BT:
- TCBs can now approve simultaneous transmission of WLAN and GSM cellular devices for handover purposes between the cellular and VoIP. The simultaneous transmission is limited to 30 seconds.
- TCBs can now review 3-6 GHz SAR devices.
- SAR testing for PCMCIA cards in 3 hosts is still required for GSM/CDMA devices. 1 host is sufficient under certain power conditions for WLAN devices.
- Specified SAR procedures for tablet PCs (which modes and positions to be measured).
- Specified SAR procedures for PDAs with VoIP function
The FCC issued a document for TCBs “permit but ask” allowing TCBs to certify certain devices (e.g. PoC or push-to-talk over Cellular). This process will take more time for certification since the FCC has to be contacted before the TCB can issue the grant. Although this adds one week to the certification process, filing with a TCB is more time efficient than going directly through the FCC.