Pakistan telecom authority authorization holder Inovi Telecom has begun exporting smartphones to other countries. The first consignment of 5,500 units of 4G smartphones carrying the “Manufactured in Pakistan” tag was exported to UAE. Within four months, the company manages to export ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’ phones.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on Saturday congratulated the company for the achievement and hoped the exports of smartphones would increase further. “This is the result of concerted efforts for the development of the mobile device manufacturing ecosystem in the country,” said the regulator in a statement.
However, the local manufacturers of mobile phone sets have stressed the need for an export supportive policy, allowing Pakistan to beat competitors in the Middle East region.
Inovi Telecom Pvt Ltd was issued authorization for mobile device manufacturing in April and it has managed to fulfill its first export order within four months. Chief Executive Zeeshan MianNoor said that their main target was to penetrate low-end markets of the Middle East including Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan.
“We are manufacturing the Chinese brands and there are many expat workers in the Gulf countries,” he said, adding the high-end consumers of Gulf countries prefer top world-class mobile brands and we should not even try to get involved in that market.”
IT and Telecom Minister Syed Amin ul Haque told Dawn that favorable government policies have helped achieve the milestone of transforming Pakistan from a net mobile phone importer to an exporting country.
The minister added that the local manufacturers would eventually start moving towards assembling high-end phones too after the production of spare parts for mobile sets commences next year.
Transsion Tecno Electronics CEO Amir Allahwala said that overall exports of the mobile set by China are over $140bn, but that was only due to low labor cost, which has now increased significantly.
“The Chinese are moving towards high-tech items and shifting their mobile set manufacturing to countries like India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Bangladesh,” he said.
“Now Pakistan is the only player left to compete with Bangladesh, but is the government ready to provide the same level of facilities to us too?” he asked. “We have proved that investors can meet the targets but the future of mobile set exports depends on the government policies,” he remarked
