Pakistan has started local manufacturing of mobile phones to encourage the investment in the country and create employment opportunities. For this purpose, Transsion Tecno Electronics Ltd (TTE) -a joint venture- formed by the Chinese company Transsion Holdings and Pakistan’s Tecno Group. In which, the Chinese company have 40% shareholding and the Pakistani firm has the remaining 60% stake.
Decline in Phone’s Smuggling Encourages Local Phone’s Assembling
Initially, with help of joint-venture company, Pakistan has initial capacity to produce 1.8 3G/4G smartphone annually on a single-shift basis with over 200 skilled workers below 30 years of age. In Pakistan, PTA has permitted 24 companies for the local phone’s assembling. TTE CEO Asif Allawala stated: “The value of Pakistan’s mobile phone market stands at Rs366 billion, which is even higher than the value of the auto sector which is around Rs360 billion, Interestingly, the government drafts policies conducive for the auto sector but ignores the mobile phone industry.” He further highlighted that if the import of smartphones remained cheaper than local manufacturing, then the industry would not be able to grow much longer. According to the study, Pakistan has 164 million cellular subscribers while the country ranks seventh among the World’s largest handset importers. Fortunately, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has tackled the smuggling of the phone successfully while an increase of 110% has been observed in the legal import of devices. Recommended Reading: PTA Suspends Blocking of Mobile Devices during Corona Virus Pandemic
