Paraguay CONATEL Homologation Rules Under Review

Paraguay Reviews Its Type Approval Regime: CONATEL Diagnoses the 2009 Homologation Framework

Paraguay has taken the first formal step toward overhauling how telecommunications and radio equipment is approved for its market. The National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) has run a public consultation on a diagnostic document that sets out, in detail, why its sixteen year old homologation regime no longer fits the technologies and market it is meant to govern. The consultation itself has closed, but it marks the opening of a structured reform process that manufacturers, importers and test labs should begin tracking now because the framework that emerges is likely to look materially different from the one in force since 2009.

Importantly, this is a problem diagnosis stage, not a new rule. CONATEL has not published a draft regulation and has not imposed any new approval requirements. What it has done is publish its own analysis of the current regime's weaknesses and ask industry to confirm, challenge and enrich that diagnosis. The substance of the eventual reform and its timing remains open.

What the Paraguay CONATEL homologation review actually is

The review is the first pilot of a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA / "Análisis de Impacto Regulatorio," AIR) methodology at CONATEL, carried out with technical support from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) under Project 9PAR24003 and framed as a "regulatory simplification" exercise. The public consultation was authorised by Resolution RD N° 1651/2026.

The document put to consultation is a problem formulation paper the stage in an RIA process where the regulator defines the problem before evaluating solutions. It draws on a Focus Group held with industry on 28 April 2026, an ITU international benchmark covering Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Costa Rica, an analysis of the current rules, and CONATEL's own caseload and revenue data for 2023–2025.

The comment window opened on 24 July 2026 with an original close of 2 August 2026, and was extended by CONATEL to 12 August 2026 following strong interest from national and international stakeholders. Both dates have now passed.

The framework under review: RD N° 588/2009 and its patchwork

The instrument at the centre of the review is Resolution RD N° 588/2009, approved on 9 July 2009, which sits under the Telecommunications Law (Ley N° 642/1995) and its implementing Decree N° 14.135/1996. Homologation in Paraguay is mandatory: manufacturing, importing, marketing, installing or operating covered equipment without CONATEL approval is expressly prohibited, and operators may only connect homologated terminal equipment to their networks.

The 2009 regulation covers three equipment categories:

(I) equipment that connects, directly or indirectly, to public telecommunications networks

(II) equipment that uses radio spectrum at any power level

(III) equipment subject to specific technical regulation at CONATEL's discretion.

Rather than being revised as a whole, the 2009 base has been layered with a series of point resolutions addressing individual technologies as they arrived among them low power devices (RD 841/2007), test report and equivalence rules (RD 878/2014), labelling and the CONATEL logo/registration number (RD 1193/2017), the 918–928 MHz band for RFID/SRD/LPWAN (RD 1269/2020), cellular device requirements linked to customs control (RD 3171/2023), Wi-Fi 6E in 5925–6425 MHz (RD 1034/2025 and RD 1035/2025), and 5G in the 3.5 GHz and 3700–3800 MHz IMT bands (RD 1616/2025 and RD 3339/2025). None of these amended the architecture of the base regulation. CONATEL's own conclusion is that the result is a fragmented regime that no longer reflects current technology or market conditions.

The gaps CONATEL has identified

The diagnostic paper builds its case around four root causes:

1. An obsolete, rigid framework. The 2009 rulebook has no specific categories for device types that now dominate the market low power IoT devices, wearables (smart rings, health monitors), video transmitting drones, Smart TV boxes and 5G NR equipment. In their absence, industry must negotiate requirements case by case, with no uniform criteria or predictable timelines. Critically, the regulation contains no cybersecurity requirements, at a time when Brazil has mandated them via ANATEL's Ato N° 77/2021 (since 2021) and the EU has made harmonised standard EN 18031 mandatory for radio equipment (since August 2025). CONATEL notes the asymmetry with Brazil creates a Mercosur market risk: equipment that would fail regional security standards can enter Paraguay legally.

2. An inefficient, paper based process. Applications move sequentially through multiple CONATEL areas and must be approved by the full Board (Directorio) a structural bottleneck absent in every benchmarked country. There is no native electronic filing, digital signature or family of models homologation; each model is processed individually. Statutory turnaround is 29 business days, but the paper cites real cases of 54, 63 and 94 days.

3. A cost model with no risk differentiation. The fee is a flat 30% of the minimum wage per model (roughly Gs. 850,000), applied uniformly regardless of complexity or risk. A firm importing ten commercial variants of the same hardware pays roughly Gs. 8.5 million across ten separate files. By contrast, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Costa Rica charge no homologation fee, and Mexico applies low fixed amounts.

4. Weak inter institutional control. Coordination with the customs authority (DNIT) is limited: a homologation certificate is required at the border only for cellular handsets (Decree 6832/2017), not for routers, modems, IoT or short range devices. There is no interoperable database letting customs verify certification in real time. A Focus Group participant estimated that roughly 80% of equipment sold in Paraguay is not homologated a figure CONATEL explicitly flags as an industry perception, not official data.

To put the current regime in numbers: CONATEL issued 1,160 homologation certificates in 2025, with revenue rising to Gs. 993.3 million up about 33% from Gs. 748 million in 2023 and certificates carry a fixed five year validity. Paraguay also has no locally accredited test laboratory; it accepts reports from ILAC/IAF-accredited foreign labs and certificates from ANATEL, the FCC and EU notified bodies, though the paper notes this recognition has no explicit, uniform basis in the regulation.

What this means for manufacturers

For companies placing radio and telecom equipment on the Paraguayan market, the practical signal is that change is coming, but the shape of it is not yet fixed. Nothing about today's obligations has changed: RD N° 588/2009 remains fully in force, per model homologation is still required, and the CONATEL logo and registration number must still appear on marketed units.

What is new is direction. The diagnosis points strongly toward a modernised regime that could introduce device categories for IoT, wearables and 5G NR; a possible move to family of models homologation; digital, end to end filing; a revised (potentially reduced or risk tiered) fee structure; a formal basis for recognising international certifications (FCC, CE/ETSI, ANATEL); and most consequentially for product design cybersecurity requirements aligned with international practice such as EN 18031 or ANATEL's Ato 77/2021. Manufacturers whose products already meet EU or Brazilian security baselines are best positioned; those that do not should treat this as an early warning.

Two caveats matter. First, these are candidate directions drawn from the problem analysis and benchmark, not commitments the alternatives analysis is still ahead. Second, any tightening (for example, mandatory cybersecurity conformity) would raise the compliance bar, while the simplification goals (family homologation, digital filing, fee reform, certification recognition) would lower cost and friction. The net effect on any given product line will depend on how CONATEL balances the two.

Certification impact summary

Area	Current regime (RD N° 588/2009)	Likely direction of reform	Manufacturer impact
Legal status	In force; no change	Diagnosis only; no draft rule yet	None today; monitor for draft
Device categories	No IoT / wearable / drone / 5G NR categories	New categories likely	Fewer case by case rulings; clearer requirements
Cybersecurity	Not required	Possible new requirement (EN 18031 / ANATEL Ato 77/2021 as references)	Potential new conformity burden; design ahead
Homologation unit	Per model; family homologation prohibited	Family of models homologation under consideration	Potentially lower cost for variants
Process	Paper-based, Board-approved	End to end digitalisation likely	Faster, lower administrative burden
Fees	30% of minimum wage per model (~Gs. 850,000)	Review toward reduction / risk tiering	Possible cost reduction
Int'l certification recognition	Accepted case by case, no formal basis	Formalised recognition under consideration	More predictable acceptance of FCC/CE/ANATEL data
Certificate validity	Fixed 5 years	Possible risk based differentiation	To be determined
Customs enforcement	Certificate required only for handsets	Broader border verification likely	Wider real world enforcement across device types

Timeline and required actions

Date	Milestone	Status	Recommended manufacturer action
9 Jul 2009	RD N° 588/2009 approved (base regulation)	In force	Maintain current homologation compliance
28 Apr 2026	Industry Focus Group with ITU/CONATEL	Complete	—
RD N° 1651/2026	Consultation authorised	Complete	—
24 Jul 2026	Public consultation opened	Complete	—
2 Aug 2026	Original comment deadline	Superseded by extension	—
12 Aug 2026	Extended comment deadline (prórroga)	Closed	Comment window has passed
To be scheduled	Alternatives analysis and impact evaluation	Pending	Monitor CONATEL for updates
To be scheduled	Draft-regulation public consultation	Not yet published	Prepare formal comments; review portfolio
To be scheduled	New/amended homologation regulation	Not yet issued	Assess impact on approvals and roadmaps