ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has drafted regulatory framework for Short Range Radio Communication Devices (SRD) to provide the telecom industry a liberal regulatory regime and a list of frequencies that are allowed for SRD and Ultra-Wide Band Technology (UWB) bands in the country.

The framework will include the technical parameters and standards, types of applications approved and other operational restrictions.

The SRD and UWB regulations and requirements are subject to periodic review and new frequency bands may be opened up for specific and non-specific SRDs/UWB.

The SRD is a term, which applies to radio transmitters operating over short distance and at low power.

Generally, these devices have little potential to cause interference to other radio equipment.

They are usually exempted from licensing, if operating within approved technical standards.

The SRD used in many areas including remote control, RFID, wireless microphones, health monitoring devices and wireless LAN.

Increasingly, manufacturers are working through the ITU and other standardisation bodies to harmonise the frequency ranges and the technical standards.

Bluetooth, ZigBee and Wi-Fi (802.11) are some examples of global standards that are widely used and the economies of scale have driven down the cost of hardware. The UWB operates by spreading signals across a very large frequency band (above 500 MHz).

The UWB transmissions is usually low power and operate in frequency bands already allocated for other uses including exclusively licensed commercial bands.

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