On July 29, 1998, MKK (Musen Setsubi Kensa Kentei Kyokai: Radio Equipment Inspection and Certification Institute), that has an important role in the technical standards certification for PHS equipment in Japan, was renamed Telecom Engineering Center (TELEC) upon receiving approval from the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications.



This change coincided with the 20th anniversary of the foundation of MKK, the time when the organization had to expand its services to handle diverse changes in its surrounding environment. New responsibility includes calibration of measuring equipment and participation in setting internationally standardized certification systems for telecommunications equipment.
Work Overview TELEC's main activities include technical standards certification for radio equipment, and the calibration of measuring equipment and other types of device. As a designated certificate organization under the Radio Law, TELEC certifies the conformity of 57 types of radio equipment in accordance with the Radio Law, including cellular telephone terminals, PHS stations and terminals, and specified low-power radio equipment. TELEC also performs durability and vibration tests on radio equipment to check its accuracy and reliability.

TELEC, as a designated calibration organization under the Radio Law, began calibration services for an additional six measuring equipment on February 20, 1998, including frequency counters, spectrum analyzers, and high-frequency electric power meters -- all used by certified inspectors in the routine inspection of radio stations.
TELEC's other duties include performance certification, holding general tests, and making its testing facilities available to the public. TELEC offers performance certification service to check whether radio equipment is in conformity with specific technical requirements. This service's targets include extremely weak power radio equipment, as well as PHS equipment for export upon request from foreign governments, such as from Singapore.



With its testing service, TELEC measures emissions of interfering radiowaves from facilities that use high frequencies such as an ultrasonic cleaner, and also conducts connectivity tests on PHS terminals and PHS networks.
TELEC made its research facilities and shared-use facilities open to the public in order to support ongoing telecommunications technology R&D efforts in local communities. TELEC has also opened a large radio anechoic chamber, and other apparatus newly installed in the Matsudo Laboratory, such as a near field antenna measuring system and a network analyzer for millimeter waves.

Future for TELEC
A new information and communications era has arrived, in which epoch- making services such as LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite-based global mobile communications have been realized. It is against this backdrop that TELEC, as a certification/test body responsible for ensuring orderly radiowave use, aims to improve its efficiency and responsiveness to meet a range of social needs. TELEC will perform its duties in accordance with a new certification system that comes into effect in March 1999 following amendments to the Radio Law. To this end, TELEC will further improve its quality of service and add new services.

1. Retaining high capability to develop measuring technologies
   Being capable of developing cutting-edge measuring technologies constitutes the basis for TELEC's wide-ranging services. Therefore, continued effort must be made in maintaining and improving the capability that TELEC has achieved.
   As one attempt to pursue this goal, TELEC will initially conduct R&D on new measurement methods for radio facilities at its Matsudo Laboratory. After installing high-tech equipment such as a near field antenna measuring system and the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) measuring system in the laboratory, TELEC will also begin work to establish standard methods for measuring the degrees of influence of electromagnetic waves on human bodies, and to establish measuring methods for radio characteristics that have been impossible to measure to date.
   
2. Worldwide network of cooperation
   As favorable discussions at the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting pertaining to the introduction of MRAs (Mutual Recognition Arrangement for telecommunications equipment) indicate, APEC economies are keen to participate in APEC MRA's. TELEC will deepen its ties with equipment certification/test organizations around the world, with the aim of expanding its activities internationally.
   
3. Reorganization
   TELEC will make the changes necessary to its organizational structure to enhance its efficiency and flexibility including sending, accepting and training staffs.
   
4. Information disclosure
   It is very important to have all those concerned understand the goals of TELEC. Therefore, the information about these activities is made public. TELEC will continue providing timely information on its web page (URL: http://www.telec.or.jp/ opened in December 1997).