SGS receives PTCRB approval for expanded US wireless test lab

SAN DIEGO, USA: SGS Consumer Testing Services announced the PTCRB approval of its SGS North America wireless lab in San Diego. Effective immediately, the San Diego lab is authorized to test GSM/WCDMA mobile stations for the Americas. With the addition of GSM and WCDMA technologies, SGS is the first wireless lab to provide certification test coverage for all major cellular technologies under one roof including CDMA, EVDO, GSM, GPRS, WCDMA and LTE.

The expanded testing services will speed time to market for new GSM and WCDMA handsets and smartphones by eliminating the need for device manufacturers and wireless service providers to send new device models to multiple labs for certification. The added services will also simplify testing arrangements by making it possible to source wireless testing services from a single provider.

The San Diego facility just completed a massive expansion to accommodate the new test services. With PTCRB and GCF certification testing, SGS has pushed their testing services portfolio past the competition. These services also include CDMA/EVDO test programs for CCF Certification, CTIA Certification, Carrier Safe For Network, CDG and Stage 1. Limited LTE test coverage was added in February, with installation of full conformance test systems for LTE completed in August.

The San Diego lab expansion comes on the heels of two new US lab openings by SGS for the wireless and electronics markets. A new location in Basking Ridge, NJ, provides wireless carrier approval testing, and a large facility in Atlanta, GA, is dedicated to testing and certifying electrical and electronic products for EMC, safety and performance requirements.

"As we move further into deployment of the 4th generation technology, there will still be a need to support backwards compatibility testing of all of those 2G and 3G technologies. This move is a solid step in creating a laboratory to handle all major cellular technologies in one location," said Michael Spitzer, SGS Global Wireless Manager. "We can now cover the certification testing requirements of all major mobile carriers as well as wireless manufacturers and design houses from a single U.S-based facility."