The production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants has witnessed a significant increase of 3.25 million in November 2021 and the total production reached 22.12 million in the first 11 months of the current calendar year.

The production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants has more than doubled against the import of commercial mobile phones in the country during Jan-November 2021 as the local production was recorded at 22.12 million compared to the imported mobile phones of 9.95 million.

However, despite the increase in local production of mobile phones, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $856.727 million during the first five months (July-November) of 2021 compared to $724.083 million during the same period of last year, registering a growth of 18.32 percent, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data revealed that the local manufacturing trend reflects a positive uptake on the PTA’s Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Authorisation regulatory regime, whereby, local manufacturing within the first year of regime introduction has resulted in production of 22.12 million phones in a short span of 11 months, including 9.03 million 4G smartphones.

As per the PTA data, 52 per cent of mobile devices are smartphones and 48 per cent 2G on the Pakistan network.

The successful implementation of Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) along with conducive government policies including the mobile manufacturing policy has created a favourable environment for mobile device manufacturing in Pakistan.

It has also contributed positively to the mobile ecosystem of Pakistan by eliminating counterfeit device market providing a level-playing field for commercial entities and has created trust among consumers due to the formulation of standardised legal channels for all sorts of device imports.

The government had introduced a mobile manufacturing policy to encourage and attract manufacturers to establish their units in Pakistan.

The PTA in light of the policy issued Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations on 28th January 2021. Till now, 27 companies have been issued MDM Authorisation enabling them to manufacture mobile devices in Pakistan. The companies included renowned brands like Samsung, Nokia, Oppo, TECNO, Infinix, Vgotel, Q-mobile, etc.

The establishment of 27 manufacturing plants has brought in an investment of over $126 million and created over 10,000 jobs in a short span.

The article was originally published in Business Recorder on December 26, 2021.