The local mobile industry in Pakistan has seen remarkable growth as a result of the companies’ production of approximately 19.7 million mobile phones and smart devices over the course of the previous calendar year. This growth can be attributed to the government’s implementation of a Mobile Manufacturing Policy, which is intended to encourage local production.
According to data provided by the Pakistani site mrprice.pk Telecommunication Authority, domestic mobile manufacturing factories produced or assembled 19.7 million phone handsets between the months of January and November 2022. This figure compares to 1.37 million phone handsets that were commercially imported (PTA).
In the month of November 2022, manufacturing plants in the surrounding area manufactured or assembled 1.56 million mobile phone devices.
According to a senior official of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, “due to increased local manufacturing, the import of mobile and smartphone devices has decreased from 10.26 million to a record level of 1.37 million.” This is a significant decrease from the previous level of 10.26 million.
In the calendar year 2021, local manufacturing firms manufactured or assembled 24.66 million mobile phones, which is an increase of 88 percent from the 13.05 million mobile phones produced or built in the calendar year 2020. According to PTA data, commercial mobile phone imports rose at 10.26 million in 2021, up from 24.51 million in 2020.
The 19.7 million mobile phones that were manufactured and assembled locally include 11.5 million 2G mobile phones and 8.2 million smartphone mobile phones. In addition, the data provided by the PTA indicates that smartphones make up 55% of mobile devices that connect to the Pakistan network, while 2G devices account for 45% of these connections.
According to him, the Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy has allowed somewhere around 30 mobile manufacturers to receive licences so that they can begin local production of mobile devices. “A mobile device manufacturing strategy had been created” in order to “promote local production and fight the security issue,” respectively.
Pakistan imported mobile phones with a total value of $290.570 million during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year 2022-23. This represents a decrease of 66.08 percent from the same time period in the previous year. This is despite the fact that the number of locally manufactured mobile phones has increased.
The Mobile Phone Imports in Pakistan decreased by 1.92 percent month on month (MoM) and was at $64.520 million in November 2022, compared to $65.780 million in October 2022, as reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
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When compared to November 2022 of the previous year, mobile phone imports had a year-on-year (YoY) decline of 69.57 percent, reaching a total value of 212.058 million dollars. The whole value of telecom products imported into the country during the first five months of the fiscal year 2022-23 was $ 455.731 million, which is a decline of 59.67 percent compared to the same period during the previous fiscal year.
According to the official, the mobile devices that these manufacturers make will not only be sold in the country, but they also have the potential to be exported to other competitive markets in the region and even further afield. “The device manufacturing factories shall play a pivotal role in delivering new job opportunities as well as low-cost handsets for users in Pakistan,”
In Pakistan, a favourable environment for the manufacturing of mobile devices has been developed as a result of the effective deployment of the Device Identification, Registration, and Blocking System (DIRBS), as well as supportive government policies, such as the mobile manufacturing policy. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) is in charge of determining the technical standards, giving licences to telecommunications businesses, and enforcing the rules and regulations that pertain to Pakistan’s telecommunications industry.
According to him, the number of people in Pakistan who use 3G and 4G services has greatly increased and reached 121 million by the end of November 2022. At the same time, the number of active mobile SIMs has reached 194 million during this time period. The official stated that the number of broadband users had reached 124 million, while the percentage of people who have access to broadband was reported at 56.00 percent.
