This feat, as per the country’s IT and Telecom Minister Syed Amin ul Haque, was made possible by the “favourable” government policies thus transforming Pakistan from a net mobile phone importer to an exporting country
Pakistan’s Inovi Telecom has reportedly began to export its locally-manufactured smartphones to the UAE with the shipments tagged as ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’.
As per a report by local Pakistani media, the first consignment of 5,500 mobile sets of 4G smartphones manufactured by the company was exported to the UAE.
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.
Congratulating the company for the achievement, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said, “This is the result of concerted efforts for the development of the mobile device manufacturing ecosystem in the country.”
Inovi Telecom was issued authorisation for mobile device manufacturing in April and it has managed to fulfil its first export order within four months.
Chief Executive Zeeshan Mian Noor 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 a large number of ex-pat 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.”
Adding that the mass market of Gulf countries was their primary target, Noor said that the ordinary citizens of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan too preferred mobile sets up to USD 100 each.
This feat, as per the country’s IT and Telecom Minister Syed Amin ul Haque, was made possible by the “favourable” government policies thus transforming Pakistan from a net mobile phone importer to an exporting country.
He added that a conducive environment was being provided to the local mobile device manufacturing companies and the smuggling of mobile phones has been stopped through Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS).
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 commence next year.
Transsion Tecno Electronics CEO Amir Allahwala, however, remarked that the government’s approach towards enhancing export markets was slow, keeping in view the changing scenario. Allahwala said that overall exports of mobile sets by China are over USD 140 billion, but that was only due to low labour 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.
He added that labour cost was very high in Vietnam and Indonesia and Chinese businesses are not expanding in India anymore due to mounting political tensions, according to Dawn News.
“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.
