By Ayesha Mudassar ISLAMABAD, March 09 (INP-WealthPK): Pakistan has achieved significant success in mobile phone manufacturing in 2021, with domestic production exceeding imports for the first time. According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s statistics, during the calendar year 2021, Pakistan manufactured/assembled 26.66 million handsets and imported 10.26 million handsets. In 2020, the number of locally manufactured phones was 13.05 million compared to 24.51 million phones imported. The local manufacturing plants produced/assembled 1.53 million mobile devices against 0.14 million commercially imported in January 2022, according to PTA. Eng Asim Ayaz, secretary of Mobile Device Manufacturing Committee (MDMC), told WealthPK that the PTA’s introduction of the Mobile Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System to combat handset smuggling has helped support capital investment in this sector by creating additional demand. Asim Ayaz, who is also the general manager, policy, admin & coordination at the engineering development board of the ministry of industries, said that Pakistan's 2020 mobile device manufacturing policy has so far yielded positive results, creating a favourable environment for device manufacturing. “The policy is designed to incentivise local assemblers and provide jobs to local engineers, trained and semi-skilled educated youth.” “Around 30 companies have been awarded mobile manufacturing licences since the formulation of the policy, attracting $120 million in investment. Pakistan has also started foreign shipments of mobile phones, which is contributing to the economy in terms of foreign exchange earnings, job creation, and technology transfer,” he added. According to the secretary of MDMC, the policy has also enabled assemblers to import semi-knocked down units for assembling in Pakistan at quite low taxes and duties. It is important to mention here that leading global brands like Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Nokia, Tecno, ZTE and others have started manufacturing in Pakistan. This has not only created jobs, but also reduced the cost of their locally-manufactured smartphones. Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have played a significant role in reducing Pakistan's reliance on imported mobile phones. Realme, a Chinese mobile maker, has begun manufacturing smartphones at its unit in Lahore, Punjab. Xiaomi, one of the world's leading smartphone manufacturers, will soon begin production in collaboration with Air Link’s Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited, which is expected to generate an annual sales volume of 550 million units in the country. With the positive growth in the local assembly of mobile phones, Pakistan has also started smartphone exports as it delivered the first cargo to the United Arab Emirates with the label ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’. This has enabled Pakistan to enter a new era of high value-added exports. Pakistan's mobile sector is expanding and increasing at a rapid pace, with production reaching new highs. In Pakistan, the environment is quite favourable for smartphone manufacturing, allowing enterprises to offer a wide range of products. However, real economic gains will not be realised until assemblers start investing in the localisation of mobile phone components and exporting their products.