Pakistan has achieved a remarkable feat in the local production of mobile phones, as it has assembled or manufactured over 15 million units in the first 10 months of 2023, according to the latest data from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
The country has also reduced its reliance on imports, as it has only brought in 1.26 million mobile phones commercially during the same period.
The data reveals that the local production accounts for 92.6% of the total mobile phones in the country, while the imports constitute only 7.4%. This has helped the country save its foreign exchange and boost its domestic industry.
The PTA data further shows that out of the 15.66 million mobile sets, 10.25 million are basic 2G mobiles, also known as GSM phones, while 1.41 million are smartphones.
The data also highlights the dominance of Chinese brands in the top 10 list of local producers and assemblers of mobile phones.
The top spot goes to China’s VGO Tel, which has produced 1.96 million phone sets, followed by ‘itel’ with 1.89 million sets.
Infinix has made 1.70 million mobile sets, while Xiaomi’s Redmi and Tecno have assembled or manufactured 0.92 million and 0.89 million mobile sets, respectively.
In 2022, Pakistan had locally produced 21.95 million phone sets, along with the commercial imports of 1.53 million phone sets.
The leading brand in 2022 was also China’s itel, which had made 3.03 million sets. VGO Tel had produced 2.40 million sets, while Vivo and Infinix had each made 1.72 million sets in 2022.
China’s Tecno and Oppo were also among the top 10 brands, with the production or assembly of 1.34 million and 1.12 million mobile sets, respectively.
