Local manufacturing plants produced 7.16 million phones handsets during the first three months of 2022 against 0.61 million commercially imported units, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Additionally, 3.52 million mobile phones handsets were manufactured in March against the commercial imports of 0.15 million handsets.
Locally manufactured mobile phones handsets numbered 24.66 million in 2021 as compared to 13.05 million in 2020, which is an increase of 88 percent. Conversely, the commercial imports of mobile phones handsets in 2021 stood at 10.26 million against 24.51 million in 2020, as per the PTA data.
The locally manufactured 7.16 million mobile phones handsets included 4.33 million 2G and 2.83 million 3G and 4G smartphones. The PTA data also revealed that 53 percent of the handsets are smartphones and 47 percent are 2G handsets.
However, despite the increase in the local production of mobile phones, mobile phones worth $1.596 billion were imported during the first nine months (July-March) of 2021-22 as compared to $1.535 billion during the same period last year, registering a growth of 3.93 percent.
The data showed that the local manufacturing trend reflects a positive uptake of the PTA’s Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Authorization regulatory regime, whereby local manufacturing within the first year of the regime has resulted in the production of 24.66 million phones in a year, including 10.06 million 4G smartphones.
The successful implementation of the Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) and conducive government policies, including the mobile manufacturing policy, have created a favorable environment for mobile device manufacturing in Pakistan. It has also contributed positively to the country’s mobile ecosystem by eliminating the counterfeit device market to provide a level-playing field for commercial entities.
This has created trust among consumers due to the formulation of standardized legal channels for all sorts of device imports. Furthermore, the government introduced a mobile manufacturing policy to encourage and attract manufacturers to establish their units in Pakistan.
The PTA had reinforced this impact by issuing the Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations, 2021, which had eased the process for obtaining a No-Objection Certificate (NoC) for the manufacturing and local assembly of mobile phones in Pakistan. As many as 30 companies have obtained licenses so far, producing 10.1 million smartphones in 2021 while creating 2,000 jobs, and Samsung also joined the local manufacturing market in collaboration with local partners.
Additionally, Pakistan made history by exporting its first-ever smartphone consignment to the United Arab Emirates under the ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’ tag.