Refinery
HPCL describes Visakh as India's first east-coast refinery (1957), with a single point mooring for crude carriers, and reports a record 16.04 million tonne throughput in 2025-26 after a residue upgradation facility was commissioned.
Visakhapatnam is a major east-coast port city in Andhra Pradesh. HPCL's Visakh Refinery, rated at 15 million tonnes a year after its modernisation, and an underground strategic crude reserve operated by ISPRL create Zone 1 areas in process units, tank farms and storage caverns. Distribution partners for Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh are being identified ahead of the Q4 2026 launch of the IS-04Z1.
Pre-launch · certification in progress · Launching Q4 2026
Short answer. Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh has no appointed SAMS distributor yet: the IS-04Z1 is pre-launch (certification in progress, no certificate issued, launch planned for Q4 2026), and distributor applications are open.
Where things stand: the IS-04Z1 has not launched, and none of its four certification routes has produced a certificate yet. Operator approval runs on its own timeline. Certification status. Place facts reviewed October 2026.
| Check | What to look for | IS-04Z1 today |
|---|---|---|
| Ex marking | Group, category, protection concept, gas group, temperature class | II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4 (target) |
| Gas group | IIA, IIB or IIC matched to the area drawing | IIC (target) |
| Temperature class | T-class below the ignition temperature of the gas | T4, 135 °C (target) |
| Where it applies | Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh: Underground strategic crude storage, Port petroleum berths and single point mooring, Refinery process units | Classified by the site operator |

An intrinsically safe Android smartphone designed for Zone 1 and Zone 21 hazardous areas in Visakhapatnam India. It is pre-launch: IECEx, ATEX and NEC 500 certification is in progress ahead of the Q4 2026 launch.
The companies on site and the hazardous-area types a handset is likely to meet there.
HPCL describes Visakh as India's first east-coast refinery (1957), with a single point mooring for crude carriers, and reports a record 16.04 million tonne throughput in 2025-26 after a residue upgradation facility was commissioned.
ISPRL's Visakhapatnam facility, with 1.33 million tonnes of crude storage in rock caverns and tanks, was built under India's phase-I strategic reserve programme.
HPCL's Visakh refinery was the first refinery on India's east coast, commissioned in 1957, and now has a nameplate capacity of 15 million tonnes a year, so liquid-hydrocarbon hazardous areas are extensive and long established.
Visakhapatnam has a tropical savanna climate with mean temperatures from about 25 to 31 degrees Celsius, a record high of 42 degrees, and about 1,119 mm of rain a year from south-west and north-east monsoons.
The city is the zonal headquarters of the South Coast Railway Zone, and a transit corridor is proposed to link the planned Bhogapuram airport with city business districts and the Atchutapuram industrial clusters.
The port serves the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, quoted at about 7.3 million tonnes a year, and the industrial hinterland of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, which brings coal, ore and dust hazards alongside oil and gas.
“Ex-proof” is shorthand for equipment carrying an explosion-protection marking (the Ex mark) that matches the area it enters. The marking states the protection concept, gas or dust group and temperature class, and it must be backed by a certificate issued by a recognised body, so a phone described as Ex-proof should come with a certificate number you can check.
The IS-04Z1 is designed to carry the marking II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4. That is a target: certification is in progress, no certificate has been issued, and SAMS will publish the certificate numbers when they exist.
In Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh. Checking a marking at Visakh would mean reading the zone assigned to a process unit, tank farm or berth, then matching gas group and temperature class. Crude and product vapours are typically in the IIA or IIB groups, so IIC is conservative. The target marking is II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4, unapproved.
SAMS is appointing authorised distributors ahead of the Q4 2026 launch. No territory has been granted for Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh yet and applications are reviewed company by company. Because a certified Ex device cannot be opened by an ordinary phone workshop without invalidating its certificate, SAMS looks for partners who can provide competent technical support and after-sales service locally.
No. Nothing can be bought or taken into a classified area today: certification is in progress and launch is planned for Q4 2026. What is available now is the datasheet, the written certification schedule and evaluation units for safe-area use.
No price is published. While certification is in progress there is no list price and no committed lead time, and a supplier quoting a firm figure for an uncertified Ex handset is promising something it cannot stand behind. Indicative pre-launch pricing is issued in writing against a stated quantity and site.
The marking target is II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4. It becomes a marking only when the certificate is issued; until then it is a design target.
Likely candidates are refinery process units, crude and product tank farms, underground strategic crude storage, port petroleum berths and single point mooring. Which areas are classified, and to what zone, is set by the site operator's own area classification drawings.
Apply through the distributor page with your company details and the territory you cover. SAMS reviews applications company by company and has not yet granted a territory for Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh.
Yes. Rainfall of roughly 1,100 mm a year, mostly in the monsoons, plus coastal humidity and salt air, mean outdoor users usually want good ingress protection, sealed ports and regular cleaning of connectors. Check the rating against your site specification.
The main clusters are the HPCL Visakh refinery, the port with its bulk cargo handling, the steel plant and its coal and ore supply chain, and the shipyards. Gas, vapour and combustible dust zones all arise, so confirm the classification with each site.
Not by default. Entry of electronic devices is governed by the operator's permit and equipment approval rules, which contractors must follow. A device in certification would normally need operator acceptance first. Confirm with the site operator's HSE team before planning any trial.
More on Visakhapatnam India, and on other places in India.
Send the site, zone and gas group and roughly how many handsets. We reply by email with the datasheet and the certification schedule.
Send the zone and gas group of your site and we will reply with the datasheet and schedule.