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The Pakistani government plans to decrease the import of mobile phones by promoting the local manufacturing of cheap and high-quality devices. Dr. Umar Saif, the caretaker Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, and Science and Technology, expressed the government’s commitment to supporting the IT and telecom sector in Pakistan. Currently, Pakistan is the seventh-largest mobile phone market globally, with approximately 190 million mobile phones in use.

The minister emphasized that local manufacturing would not only create job opportunities but also help boost the hi-tech industry in the country. According to official data, local manufacturing plants produced 6.07 million mobile handsets from January to June 2023, whereas only 0.53 million were imported commercially during the same period.

In June 2023 alone, local manufacturing plants assembled 1.19 million mobile handsets, whereas only 0.12 million were commercially imported. However, overall local manufacturing showed a decline in 2022 compared to the previous year, which can be attributed to import issues caused by restrictions on opening Letters of Credit (LCs). The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) reported that 21.94 million mobile handsets were assembled locally in 2022, while 1.53 million were commercially imported during the same period.

The locally manufactured handsets included 4.77 million 2G phones and 1.3 million smartphones. According to PTA data, smartphones accounted for 56 percent of mobile devices in Pakistan, while 2G phones made up the remaining 44 percent.

By encouraging local manufacturing, Pakistan aims to reduce dependency on imports, generate employment opportunities, and promote the growth of the domestic hi-tech industry.

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