Pakistan is a smartphone exporter now
By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 05 Jan 2023
The first-ever consignment of “Manufactured in Pakistan” 4G smartphones was exported to the United Arab Emirates on Friday, August 13.
“Inovi Telecom has just exported the first consignment of 5,500 “Made in Pakistan” 4G mobile phones to the Middle East,” Adviser to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce and Investment Abdul Razzak Dawood tweeted Saturday.
“This also marks the beginning of product diversification from our traditional exports. I urge other mobile manufacturers in Pakistan to emulate this example and aggressively export their products,” he added.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority thanked Inovi Telecom. “This is the result of joint efforts to develop a system for the manufacture of mobile devices in the country.”
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PTA gave the company permission for the manufacturing of mobile phones on April 9, 2021, and within four months, the company started exporting mobile phones made in Pakistan.
Earlier this year, the authority authorisied top mobile manufacturers, Vivo, Oppo, Airlink, Transsion, Inovi, Tecno and G-five, to manufacture 2G, 3G, and 4G devices. It is expected to help decrease the prices of cell phones as well as the country’s import bill.
The government has introduced a comprehensive and supportive Mobile Manufacturing Policy, subsequent to which the PTA issued Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations in 2021, according to the telecom authority.
“These developments made way for the issuance of manufacturing authorizations, a major milestone in the journey towards ‘Digital Pakistan’,” it said.
This makes the Pakistani market an attractive destination for global brands. But it is largely dependent on imports at present.
The local manufacturing regime remained unattractive, according to PTA. But the situation has now been changing.
Pakistan’s total annual market size is estimated at 34 million handsets. Of them, 20 million are 2G and only 14 million are 3G and 4G, collectively.
According to the PTA, Pakistan imported 28 million handsets in 2019.
