CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND FINANCIAL OFFICERS

                                                                    Exhibit 31.1

William V. Carney does hereby  certify that he is the duly elected and incumbent
chief executive  officer of Porta Systems Corp (the "issuer") and he does hereby
certify,  with respect to the issuer's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September
30, 2003 (the "report") as follows:

He has reviewed the report;

1.    Based on his knowledge,  the report does not contain any untrue  statement
      of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary in order to
      make the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      the report;

2.    Based on his  knowledge,  the financial  statements,  and other  financial
      information  included  in the  report,  fairly  present  in  all  material
      respects the financial condition,  results of operations and cash flows of
      the issuer as of, and for, the periods presented in the report;

3.    He and the other  certifying  officer are responsible for establishing and
      maintaining  disclosure  controls  and  procedures,  as  defined  in  Rule
      13a-14(c)  of the  Securities  Exchange Act of 1934,  as amended,  for the
      issuer and have:

      i.    Designed  such  disclosure  controls and  procedures  to ensure that
            material   information   relating  to  the  issuer,   including  its
            consolidated  subsidiaries,  is made known to them by others  within
            those entities, particularly during the period in which the periodic
            reports are being prepared;

      ii.   Evaluated the effectiveness of the issuer's  disclosure controls and
            procedures  as of a date  within 90 days prior to the filing date of
            the report (the "Evaluation Date"); and

      iii.  Presented in the report their conclusions about the effectiveness of
            the  disclosure  controls  and  procedures  based  on  the  required
            evaluation as of the Evaluation Date

4.    He and  the  other  certifying  officer  have  disclosed  to the  issuer's
      auditors and to the audit  committee of the board of directors (or persons
      fulfilling the equivalent function):

      i.    All significant  deficiencies in the design or operation of internal
            controls  which  could  adversely  affect  the  issuer's  ability to
            record,  process,  summarize  and  report  financial  data  and have
            identified  for the issuer's  auditors any  material  weaknesses  in
            internal controls; and

      ii.   Any fraud,  whether or not  material,  that  involves  management or
            other employees who have a significant role in the issuer's internal
            controls; and

5.    He and the other  certifying  officer have indicated in the report whether
      or not there were  significant  changes in  internal  controls or in other
      factors that could  significantly  affect internal controls  subsequent to
      the date of their most recent evaluation, including any corrective actions
      with regard to significant deficiencies and material weaknesses.

      By /s/ William V. Carney
         -----------------------
         William V. Carney
         Chief Executive Officer