WPC ETA Certificate Step by Step: Getting a LoRa or IoT Device Approved in India
A pallet of three hundred LoRa gateways sat in a port warehouse for nineteen days, and every day cost money. The goods were fine. The radios worked. The paperwork was the problem: the importer had the wrong model name on the declaration, and the approval certificate named a slightly different one.
Nobody in the company had done this before. The engineering team assumed the supplier had handled it, and the supplier assumed the importer had. This guide exists so that it does not happen to you. It walks through getting a Wireless Planning and Coordination equipment type approval, called a WPC ETA, for a LoRa or other short-range IoT device in India, one step at a time, with what each step produces, who normally does it, how long it takes and where people go wrong.
A caution before the steps. Regulatory procedures change, consultancies describe them differently, and several of the details below come from more than one source that do not fully agree. Where the official Department of Telecommunications page and consultancy pages differ, this guide says so and follows the official page. Confirm the current procedure on the portal before you plan a launch around any date.
Before You Start: Does Your Device Need an ETA at All?
The test is simple. Does the device contain a radio transmitter that operates in a de-licensed frequency band, meaning a band that anyone may use without an individual spectrum licence, subject to technical rules? If it does, and you intend to import, sell or use it in India, it needs an Equipment Type Approval.
De-licensed does not mean unregulated. It means the user does not pay for a licence, while the equipment itself must still be approved. This confuses many first-time importers. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Zigbee on 2.4 GHz are common examples. LoRa devices in India use the 865 to 868 MHz band, set by the Department of Telecommunications in its rules of 10 December 2021, G.S.R. 853(E).
The official DoT service page describes the route most IoT makers use, ETA through self-declaration, and lists exclusions. Products operating in the de-licensed bands can apply by self-declaration except four types: radar, jamming devices, drones and satellite equipment. Those follow a different process. Cellular IoT modules operate in licensed bands and sit in a different regulatory track, so a product with both a LoRa radio and a cellular modem has two separate sets of questions.
A product that only receives, and contains no transmitter, is a separate case. If in doubt, ask a testing laboratory for a written classification, because the answer determines whether you spend two weeks or two months.
De-licensed means free to use, not free from approval. If your device transmits in a shared band, plan for an ETA before you plan the launch date.
Step 1: Pin Down the Radio Facts
Every later step depends on a short list of facts about your radio, and mistakes here carry through to the certificate.
Write down the frequency range or channels the device can transmit on, not only the ones you intend to use. A LoRa radio chip may be capable of 433, 868 and 915 MHz, and the approval covers what the product can do as shipped, so a firmware that is locked to the Indian band should be what you test and ship. Record the maximum transmit power at the antenna connector, the modulation, the occupied bandwidth, the duty cycle the firmware enforces, and the antenna: type, gain and cable.
The Indian rules for LoRa-class devices in the 865 to 868 MHz band set a ceiling on effective radiated power of 500 milliwatts, with adaptive power control and duty-cycle limits by device class. As established in our guide to LoRaWAN gateways, the limit is on the radiated signal, so antenna gain and cable loss enter the arithmetic. A device that passes at the connector can fail as a system if a high-gain antenna is added.
Decide whether you have a finished product or a module. A bare radio module sold to other manufacturers has different approval needs from a finished gateway with an enclosure and an antenna, and a product built on a module with its own test report still needs documentation of the final configuration. Consultants who say a pre-approved module removes the need for further testing are describing a case that depends on the module, the antenna and the integration, so ask the laboratory.
Step 2: Get the RF Test Report
The test report is the centre of the application. Official and consultancy sources agree that an RF test report is required, and that it must come from a laboratory the authority accepts: a laboratory accredited in India by NABL, or an internationally accredited laboratory under the ILAC or ISO arrangements, according to the consultancy pages. Check which route the current portal text allows before you choose.
Choose the laboratory by scope, not by price. Ask for the accreditation certificate and confirm that it lists the Indian rule for the band your device uses, or an equivalent standard that the portal accepts. A laboratory accredited for general radio testing but without the relevant scope may produce a report the authority queries.
Prepare the samples with care. Provide units with firmware that can hold a fixed channel and transmit continuously at maximum power, because the laboratory needs to measure worst-case emissions, and a unit that insists on obeying its duty cycle will frustrate the test. Provide the exact antenna you will ship, or the highest-gain one you will offer. Provide the power supply, any cables, and a clear description of how to switch the test modes. Supply the datasheets of the radio chip and any module.
The laboratory measures parameters such as the frequency range, transmit power, occupied bandwidth, duty cycle where relevant, and spurious emissions, in the format the rule requires. The details follow the rule for your band, and the laboratory should confirm the list to you in writing before testing begins.
Lead time varies from days to a few weeks, depending on the laboratory's queue and whether the first test passes. A failure usually means a firmware or filter change and a retest, which is why a pre-test on your own spectrum analyser is a sensible habit.
Step 3: Assemble the Document Pack
The application needs several documents, and a missing one stops everything. The official page names the RF test report. Consultancy pages add the usual company and product papers. The combined list is below, and you should compare it against the portal's own checklist when you file.
Document | Who provides it | A typical gap |
RF test report from an accepted laboratory | The test laboratory | Report names a different model or antenna from the product |
Product datasheet and technical specification | Your engineering team | Frequency range or power differs from the report |
User manual | Your documentation team | Draft with no mention of the radio |
Self-declaration letter | Your company, signed | Signed by someone not authorised |
Authorisation letter, if you are not the manufacturer | The manufacturer | Missing, or issued for a different model range |
Business identity proof such as PAN and GST registration | Your finance team | Names differ from the applicant on the portal |
Importer Exporter Code | Your company, if importing | Not yet obtained |
Keep the model name identical in every document. A common cause of delay is a model called one thing on the datasheet, another on the test report and a third in the invoice. Pick the name early, put it in a table, and check each document against the table.
Customs and the authority compare names character by character. Decide the model name once, write it down, and check every document against that single spelling.
Step 4: File on the Saral Sanchar Portal
Applications go through the Department of Telecommunications' online service portal, called Saral Sanchar. The official page describes two steps: submit the application on the portal, then pay the applicable fee and download the ETA. In practice, you first register your company, choose the service for equipment type approval through self-declaration, fill in the product and manufacturer details, and upload the documents.
The official page lists a fee of 10,000 rupees. Fees change, so read the amount on the portal at the time of filing. Payment is online.
Some sources describe a lab-verification route taking longer than self-declaration, and quote timelines for each. Those timelines come from consultancies, not from the portal. A reasonable plan is to expect self-declaration to take days to a couple of weeks after a complete application, and longer if the authority raises queries.
Answer queries quickly and precisely. A query typically asks about a mismatch between the model names or frequencies in two documents, or about a missing page of the test report. A one-line, accurate reply with the corrected document attached usually resolves it.
Keep the application's reference number and the email trail. They are your record if a question arises later.
Step 5: Read the Certificate Before You Celebrate
When the approval is granted, you download the ETA certificate from the portal. Read it as carefully as you read the contract.
Check the model names and the brand against your product, character by character. Check the frequency band and the power listed. Check the manufacturer and applicant names and addresses. Check that every variant you intend to sell is covered, since an approval for one model does not automatically cover another with a different name, even when the radio is the same.
If anything is wrong, raise it with the authority at once, before shipping. A certificate with a typographical error is not a minor matter at the port. A customs officer compares the certificate with the consignment, and a mismatch can hold the goods until the certificate is corrected.
Save the certificate in several places, and record the certificate number in your product record and your bill of materials, since it will appear on import documents, in tenders and in customer questionnaires.
Step 6: Customs, the Import Code and Clearance
If you import, the approval meets customs at the port. You will need an Importer Exporter Code, which consultancy sources describe as mandatory for applicants, and the certificate attached to the import documents, with product names that match.
The declaration at the port lists the goods, their descriptions and their classification codes. The description should use the same model name as the certificate. Ask your customs agent to check the declaration against the certificate before filing it, because correcting a declaration after the goods arrive is slower and more costly than getting it right.
For products assembled in India from imported parts, the approval still applies to the finished product placed on the market, and the imported radio modules may carry their own import paperwork. Ask your adviser how your supply chain is classified, and keep the module vendors' documents on file.
Plan for the port's own timing. Even with perfect paperwork, clearance takes days, and a consignment held for questions takes weeks. If a launch date depends on the goods, add a margin for customs and not only for the approval.
Step 7: Labels, Manuals and What You Say in Marketing
After approval, several downstream items touch the certificate. Ask your adviser what the current rules require about displaying the approval details on the product, the packaging or the user manual. Practice varies, and requirements have changed over time, so do not rely on a competitor's label as a guide.
Your user manual should state the frequency band and the maximum power truthfully and should tell the user not to modify the antenna or the radio. Product pages and tender responses should cite the approval by number. A claim of approval without a number invites a question, and a number that does not match the product invites a worse one.
Keep a copy of the full application and the test report with each product record. Customers in government and defence procurement routinely ask for these, and an organised file answers a questionnaire in a day.
Variants, Antennas and Modules: When One Approval Stops Covering You
An approval is for a defined product. Changes can take you outside it, and the rules about which changes need a new approval are not always clear.
A different antenna is the commonest. If your product is approved with a 3 dBi antenna and you start shipping a 9 dBi antenna for farm deployments, the radiated power changes, possibly beyond the limit. Treat any antenna change as a reason to ask the laboratory whether a new report is needed.
A new model name on the same hardware is a second. A rebranded unit for a distributor may need its own certificate, or an authorisation letter linking it to the original, depending on the current practice. Ask before printing the labels.
A firmware change that alters the radio's behaviour, such as the frequency plan or the power, can invalidate the report. Lock down radio-relevant firmware and keep a version record in the product file.
A new radio module in the same enclosure is a new product from the approval's point of view. Plan for fresh testing. The same applies to a change of radio chip vendor, even if the specifications look the same on paper.
Validity and Renewal: What the Official Page Says and What Others Say
Validity is a point where sources disagree, which makes it a useful example of why to read the certificate yourself. The official DoT service page states the validity of the ETA as lifetime unless revoked by the WPC wing. Several consultancy pages describe a five-year validity.
The official page is the better source, but the certificate itself is the document that matters, along with any notice from the authority. Read the validity line on your own certificate, note the date in your compliance calendar if it has one, and check the portal for notices about the category your device belongs to.
An approval can be revoked. The usual reasons would be a finding that the product does not match what was approved, or a change in the rules. Keeping the product consistent with the file is the way to avoid trouble.
What to Plan for in Time
The following table gives a planning view, with the source of each figure. None of the durations is guaranteed.
Step | Typical duration | Source and confidence |
Pin down the radio facts and choose the laboratory | One to two weeks | Your own team, controllable |
RF testing and report | Days to a few weeks | Laboratory, depends on queue and first-time pass |
Document pack assembly | A few days in parallel | Your own team, controllable |
Portal application and fee | One day | Portal, controllable |
Authority processing, self-declaration | Days to two weeks | Consultancy-reported, not official |
Queries and corrections | Days, if they arise | Varies |
Customs clearance | Days to weeks | Port and agent |
Start the laboratory booking before the design is final if you can, since the queue is outside your control, and run the document pack in parallel with testing. The two items that most often delay launches are a first-time test failure and a name mismatch, and both are preventable.
A Readiness Check You Can Run Before You File
A short script, kept with the product file, catches the mistakes that cause most delays. It checks whether the product category is excluded, whether the band is in a list you maintain, whether the documents are present, whether the lab accreditation is recorded, whether the antenna tested is the antenna shipped, and whether the power exceeds the limit. The band list in the code is illustrative, so replace it with the current official list.
EXCLUDED = {"radar", "jammer", "drone", "satellite"}
DELICENSED = [(865.0, 868.0), (2400.0, 2483.5), (5150.0, 5350.0), (5725.0, 5875.0)] # MHz, illustrative, check the current list
def check_eta_readiness(p):
issues = []
if p.get("category") in EXCLUDED:
issues.append("excluded from the self-declaration route")
lo, hi = p["band_mhz"]
if not any(a <= lo and hi <= b for a, b in DELICENSED):
issues.append("band not inside a listed de-licensed band: check")
for k in ("rf_report_lab", "datasheet", "user_manual", "iec_code", "company_proof"):
if not p.get(k):
issues.append("missing " + k)
if p.get("rf_report_lab") and not (p.get("lab_nabl") or p.get("lab_ilac")):
issues.append("RF report lab accreditation not shown")
if p.get("antenna_in_report") != p.get("antenna_shipped"):
issues.append("antenna shipped differs from antenna tested")
if p.get("max_erp_dbm", 0) > 26.99:
issues.append("ERP above 500 mW limit")
return issues
ok = dict(category="iot", band_mhz=(865.0625, 865.985), rf_report_lab="lab-A", lab_nabl=True, datasheet=True,
user_manual=True, iec_code=True, company_proof=True, antenna_in_report="5dBi omni",
antenna_shipped="5dBi omni", max_erp_dbm=24.0)
print(check_eta_readiness(ok)) # []
bad = dict(ok, antenna_shipped="8dBi omni", iec_code=None, band_mhz=(902.0, 928.0), max_erp_dbm=29.0)
print(check_eta_readiness(bad))
The second call prints four problems: the band is outside the list, the importer code is missing, the shipped antenna differs from the tested one, and the power exceeds the limit. Each is a delay or a rejection if found at the portal or the port, and a two-minute fix if found at your desk.
A Composite: Nineteen Days in a Port Warehouse
This is a representative composite, genericised, from several import projects. The numbers are illustrative.
A company assembled gateways abroad under a contract manufacturing arrangement and imported three hundred units for a utility pilot. Its engineering team had commissioned an RF test report from an accredited laboratory, and the report named the product by its development codename. The application used the marketing name. The certificate came out with the marketing name, and the declaration at the port used a third, a catalogue number from the manufacturer's invoice.
Customs held the consignment pending clarification. The importer wrote to the authority asking whether the certificate covered the goods. The authority's reply took a week, and a request to the manufacturer for a letter linking the three names took another. Nineteen days after landing, the goods were cleared. Storage and the utility's idle pilot cost more than the certification itself.
The company's fix was procedural and cheap. A one-page product identity sheet now lists the model name, the codename, the catalogue number, the radio, the antenna and the frequencies, with the approval number once issued. Every document in an application, every invoice and every declaration is checked against it by one person before it leaves the building. A second fix: the product's radio firmware is locked and version-recorded, so the report always describes what ships.
The Questions People Ask Most, and Where to Check the Answer
Certain questions recur in every first approval, and each has an answer that depends on facts you should verify at the source.
Question | Short answer | Where to confirm |
Does a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi device need an ETA? | Yes if it transmits in a de-licensed band, because de-licensed means no spectrum fee and not exempt from approval | DoT service page and your laboratory |
Does a LoRa device in the 865 to 868 MHz band need one? | Yes, the band is de-licensed under the 2021 rules and equipment falls under the same approval route | The rules and the portal |
Does a prototype need one? | Treat prototypes imported or used in India as a separate question, with a written answer from an adviser | Your adviser or the authority |
Is a WPC ETA the same as BIS registration? | No, they are separate regimes covering different aspects | BIS and DoT pages |
Can the supplier file on my behalf? | Possible with authorisation letters, but the applicant named on the certificate must be right for customs | Portal rules and your customs agent |
Does the approval cover accessories and variants? | Only those named in the application | The certificate itself |
The pattern is consistent. Answers depend on the details of the product and the current rules, and a short written confirmation from a laboratory or the authority is worth more than a general statement from any guide, including this one.
What a Good RF Test Report Contains
The test report is the one document you cannot fix after the fact, so check it before you pay for it.
A usable report names the product by the identity-sheet model name and the radio module. It states the laboratory's name, address and accreditation number, with the test dates. It lists the rule or standard tested against, with its identifier and year. It reports each measured quantity with the result and the limit beside it: operating frequencies, transmit power at the connector and effective radiated power with the antenna, occupied bandwidth, duty cycle where the rule sets one, and spurious emissions. It describes the test set-up with photographs, the firmware version and the test modes. It identifies the antenna by type, gain and cable. And it carries a signature and a unique report number.
Check the details against your identity sheet before you accept it. A report that lists the wrong antenna, an old firmware version or a different model name is cheaper to correct now than after the application.
Read the report as the authority will. If a number is missing, a name is different, or a limit is not shown beside the result, ask the laboratory to correct it before you file.
Other Approvals That Often Come Next
An ETA covers the radio. Products often need more.
Telecom equipment that falls within the Telecommunication Engineering Centre's mandatory testing and certification list needs a separate certificate, and whether a particular gateway or cellular IoT device is on the list is a point on which advisers disagree. Obtain a written classification from a recognised laboratory and keep it.
Power adapters supplied with a product may fall under the Bureau of Indian Standards' compulsory registration scheme for notified categories. A product with an external mains adapter should check this early, since a missing registration can hold up goods even when the radio is approved.
Electromagnetic compatibility testing is often requested by customers though it is not part of the ETA itself, and defence customers ask for specific standards, as discussed in our guides to MIL-STD-461 and the environmental standards.
Batteries, especially lithium cells, have transport and safety rules of their own. Ask your logistics adviser before shipping product with cells.
A Product Identity Sheet Template
The single most useful document in this process is one page, written once and checked against everything else.
Field | Example entry | Where it must match |
Marketing name | Example Field Gateway 8 | Datasheet, manual, invoice, certificate |
Model number | EFG-8-IN | Test report, application, customs declaration |
Internal codename | Project Kestrel | Early test samples, drawings |
Supplier catalogue number | As on the supplier's invoice | Customs declaration |
Radio and band | LoRa, 865 to 868 MHz | Test report, application |
Maximum transmit power at the connector | Per the test report | Test report, datasheet |
Antenna | Type, gain and cable length | Test report, packing list |
Firmware version tested | Version string and date | Test report, product file |
Approval number | Added when issued | Marketing, tenders, labels |
Give the sheet an owner. When a name needs to change, the owner changes it everywhere in the same week. The sheet costs an hour and prevents exactly the nineteen-day delay described above.
Fees, Receipts and Keeping a Paper Trail
An approval is a document with a history, and the history is what answers questions years later. Keep a single folder for each product's approval, holding the files in the order they were created.
Save the receipt for the government fee, with the portal's payment reference, and note the amount and date in the product record. The official page lists the fee for the self-declaration route, and fees change, so a receipt shows what you paid under the rules of the day. Save the application as submitted, with the uploaded documents exactly as filed, since the portal's record and yours should match when a query arrives.
Keep every message from the authority and every reply, with dates, in the same folder. When a question comes back months later about why a particular antenna or variant was included, the thread answers it in minutes.
Record who did what. The engineer who ran the test, the person who signed the self-declaration, the agent who filed the customs declaration and the date each completed form a short log. When staff change, the log carries the knowledge.
Finally, put a review date in your compliance calendar. Once a year, check the portal for notices affecting your product category, confirm that shipping firmware still matches the tested version, and make sure every variant on sale appears on a certificate.
An approval you cannot prove is an approval you may have to obtain again. File the paper as carefully as you build the product.
A Checklist for the Week You Start
Write the product identity sheet: model name, codename, catalogue number, radio, antenna, frequencies and firmware version.
Confirm the band and check the exclusions against the official page.
Book an accredited laboratory with the right scope, and ask for the test list in writing.
Prepare worst-case test firmware and the exact antenna for the laboratory.
Assemble the document pack against a single spelling of the model name.
Register on the portal, file, pay and answer queries the same day.
Read the certificate against the identity sheet, then file it with the product record.
Brief your customs agent with the certificate, and check the declaration before it is lodged.
The Name on the Pallet
The nineteen days at the port were the cost of three different names for one product. Everything else in this guide is detail around that lesson: the radio facts, the laboratory, the documents, the portal and the certificate all have to describe the same object, spelled the same way, from the first test to the last declaration.
Fix the name first. Test what you will ship. File once, and read what comes back.
Related service: Certification and Compliance Support
EurthTech is an engineering-first product design and embedded systems company with a development center in Hyderabad. To discuss a project, write to connect@eurthtech.com or see https://www.eurthtech.com/case-studies.
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