Aitizaz Hassan

The manufacturing of mobile phone sets in Pakistan witnessed a decline of 11% during the calendar year 2022, WealthPK reports. Pakistan manufactured 21.94 million mobile phone sets in the year 2022 as compared to 24.66 million in 2021, showing a decrease of 11%. Of the locally manufactured devices, 8.79 million were smartphones compared to 10.6 million manufactured in 2021, registering a decline of 12%. Likewise, 13.15 million mobile phone sets manufactured in 2022 were 2G devices against 14.6 million in 2021, showing a decrease of 9%.

Source: PTA

According to the data released by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the local mobile industry manufactured 21.94 million mobile phone sets in 2022. In December 2022, about 2.24 million mobile phone sets were assembled in the country compared to 1.44 million in November 2022, registering a growth of 32.1%.

Pakistan succeeded in reducing the import of mobile phone sets. The country imported 1.53 million mobile phone sets in the year against 10.26 million in 2021, showing a decline of 85%. However, 0.16 million mobile phone sets were imported in December 2022 compared to 80,000 in November 2022, registering an increase of 100%.

Source: PTA

In December 2022, Pakistan manufactured 0.59 million smartphones compared to 0.57 million in November 2022. Similarly, 1.65 million 2G devices were manufactured in the country in December 2022 compared to 0.99 million in November 2022. The PTA data shows that 56% of smartphones and 44% of 2G devices are currently being run on Pakistan’s network.

Among the local companies, itel remained at the top by assembling 3.03 million mobiles devices during the calendar year 2022, followed by VGO TEL with 2.40 million devices, vivo with 1.72 million, Infinix with 1.72 million, NOKIA with 1.46 million, OPPO with 1.34 million, Samsung with 1.19 million, TECHNO with 1.12 million and E-TACHI with 1.08 million while QMobile assembled 1.12 million mobile phone sets.

Pakistan manufactured 24.66 million mobile phone sets during the calendar year 2021 compared to 13.05 million in 2020, indicating an increase of 88%. The commercial import of mobile phone handsets stood at 10.26 million in 2021 compared to 24.51 million in 2020. PTA introduced the local manufacturing regulations in January 2021 and since then, 30 plants have been issued manufacturing authorisation for 10 years.

“With locally manufactured phones conforming to international standards and offering quality as well as affordability, the commercial import of mobile phone sets has shown a decline,” an official of PTA told WealthPK. However, he acknowledged that the issue of the letters of credit faced by manufacturers was also one of the main reasons for the decline in the number of locally assembled mobile phone sets in the year 2022 as compared to 2021 when 24.66 million phones were manufactured in the country.

Aamir Allahwala, the head of Tecno Pack Electronics, told WealthPK that in 2022, the local manufacturers were worried about the closure of their units as commercial banks refused to open their letters of credit for the purchase of raw materials of different brands.

He said that different brands, such as Infinix, Tecno and itel, were denied the opening of LCs in the wake of new regulations introduced by the central bank of the country to control the depletion of foreign exchange reserves. The State Bank of Pakistan has ordered prior approval for the opening of LCs or registration of contracts for the import of cars, cellphones and other machinery.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk