Aitizaz Hassan

Local manufacturing of mobile phones increased in Pakistan, while import of commercial mobiles declined in September 2022, WealthPK reported.

According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data, Pakistani local mobile industry manufactured 16.7 million mobiles in nine months of 2022. Data shows that 1.09 million mobiles were assembled in September 2022 compared to 0.67 million in August 2022, registering a growth of 62%.

Pakistan imported 1.24 million mobiles in the first nine months of 2022, while 30,000 mobiles were imported in September 2022, compared to 50,000 in August 2022. The import of mobiles was reduced by 66% during the period under review.

The PTA data shows that Pakistan manufactured 7.24 million smartphones from January to September 2022, and 9.46 million 2G devices. In September 2022, 0.48 million manufactured mobiles were smartphones, registering 11.6% growth compared to 0.43 million mobiles in August 2022. On the other hand, 0.61 million 2G devices were manufactured in September, with a 144% increase compared to 0.25 million mobiles in August.

The PTA data shows that 54% of mobile devices are smartphones, while 46% are 2G in the Pakistan network.

In nine months of 2022, Itel was at the top by assembling 2.14 million mobile devices, VGOTEL produced 1.67 million, Vivo 1.49 million, Infinix 1.45 million, Nokia 1.21 million, Oppo 1.11 million, Samsung 1.08 million, QMobile 0.94 million, Tecno 0.92 million and E-Tachi 0.90 million.

Pakistan manufactured 24.66 million mobile phones, during the calendar year 2021 as compared to 13.05 million in 2020, indicating an 88% increase. The commercial imports of mobile phone handsets stood at 10.26 million in 2021 compared to 24.51 million in 2020, as per data.

A PTA spokesperson told WealthPK that the authority introduced the local manufacturing regulations in January 2021 and since then 30 plants have been issued manufacturing authorisation for 10 years. The spokesperson said the uptake of local manufacturing has shown an optimistic pattern with 24 million phones manufactured in 2021 and 16.7 million phones manufactured from Jan-Sept 2022.

“With locally manufactured phones conforming to international manufacturing standards and offering quality as well as affordability, the commercial import has shown a decline,” he said.

He said the reason for successful manufacturing in Pakistan is the effective implementation of device identification, regulation and blocking system (DIRBS) by PTA in 2019, leading to control over grey handsets import and use over networks, and the incentives being offered by the government under the manufacturing policy.

“Successful implementation of DIRBS, and the government policy of offering tax incentives under the mobile phone manufacturing policy were key factors towards this positive uptake,” said the spokesperson.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk