The initiative to help promote Made in Pakistan policy
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued mobile device manufacturing authorizations to 19 foreign and local companies for the production of 2G, 3G and 4G mobile devices locally.
The licenses have been issued under the Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations 2021 issued by the PTA to encourage domestic production of low, medium and high-end smartphones.
The manufacturing license is valid for 10 years. “The manufacturers may also establish their own new brand under the authorization, helping in the promotion of ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’ culture” PTA said.
The international brands that have obtained manufacturing licenses have plans to export their products to other competitive markets of the region and beyond.
Pakistan government introduced a comprehensive and supportive Mobile Manufacturing Policy under “Digital Pakistan” program to encourage manufacturers to set up their plants in Pakistan.
The device manufacturing plants will also be instrumental in creating new job opportunities whole offering low-priced handsets to Pakistani users.
The initiative is aimed at promoting the government’s Made-in-Pakistan policy not only for mobile sets but for the parts too. the PTA spokesman said.
Oppo and Vivo are among the prominent companies manufacturing in Pakistan. Other manufacturers include Airlink, Tecno, Transsion, Inovi, and G-five.
The government aims to reduce the import of mobile phones which reached 32.8 million in the year 2020, according to PTA.
Localization of mobile device manufacturing
To promote localization, PTA has made it mandatory for the manufacturer to ensure local packing materials are used and two percent of the total manufactured device packaging is done locally by the end of one year.
By the end of second year, PTA requires manufacturers to produce these locally:
- 10% of all batteries have to be manufactured locally
- 10% of all motherboard (PCB) assembly
- 8% of total manufactured display screens and components
- 8% of total manufactured device (housing and plastic parts etc)
- 2% of device chargers
- 1% of Bluetooth handsfree devices
Over one million cell phones have been manufactured in Pakistan during the first two months of the year 2021 as compared to over two million smartphones manufactured during the year 2020. There are currently 33 mobile phone manufacturing units in Pakistan.
