Pakistan mobile phone manufacturing surpasses its imports

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 04 Jan 2023

The production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants has surpassed the number of mobile phones imports in the country.

From January to July, the production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants was 12.27 million, and imported mobile phones was recorded at 8.29 million.

This trend reflects a positive uptake on PTA’s Mobile Device Manufacturing Authorization regulatory regime whereby local manufacturing within the first year of regime introduction has resulted in the production of 12.27 million phones in a short span of seven months, including 4.87 million 4G smartphones.

The successful implementation of the 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 the counterfeit device market providing a level playing field for commercial entities and has created trust amongst consumers due to the formulation of standardised legal channels for all sorts of device imports.

It is important to highlight that the Government of Pakistan introduced a comprehensive mobile manufacturing policy to encourage and attract manufacturers to establish their units in Pakistan.

PTA in light of the policy issued Mobile Device Manufacturing Regulations on January 28. Till now, 26 companies have been issued MDM authorization enabling them to manufacture mobile devices in Pakistan. The companies include renowned brands such as Samsung, Nokia, Oppo, TECNO, Infinix, Vgotel, Q-mobile among others.

Commercial imports against manufacturing trends can be seen at the PTA website: https://www.pta.gov.pk/en/telecom-indicators/10.