Between January and July 2021, Pakistan’s output of mobile phones by local manufacturing facilities exceeded the number of mobile phones imported into the country, with the effective deployment of the Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS).
Between January and July 2021, Pakistan manufactured 12.27 million mobile phones, but only 8.29 million were imported over the same time period.
During Jan-July 2021, the production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants was 12.27 Million and imported mobile phones was recorded at 8.29 Million. pic.twitter.com/iKeKdWtYnl
— PTA (@PTAofficialpk) August 26, 2021
The PTA attributed the development of a favorable environment for mobile device manufacturing in Pakistan to the execution of the DIRBS and supportive government policies, particularly the mobile manufacturing policy.
“This trend reflects a positive uptake on PTA’s Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Authorisation 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 statement read.
DIRBS has also benefited Pakistan’s mobile ecosystem by eliminating the counterfeit device market, creating a fair playing field for commercial organizations, and instilling consumer confidence via the creation of regulated legal channels for all kinds of device imports, according to the statement.
To promote and attract manufacturers to set up shop in Pakistan, the government implemented a comprehensive mobile manufacturing strategy.
On January 28, 2021, the telecommunications authority published Mobile Device Manufacturing (4DM) Regulations in light of the policy. MDM authorization has been granted to 26 firms so far, allowing them to manufacture mobile devices in Pakistan. Samsung, Nokia, Oppo, TECNO, Infinix, Q-mobile, and Vgotel are among the included companies.
