Govt plans new mobile policy after previous one lapses

KARACHI: The government is preparing to draft a new policy on mobile device and allied equipment manufacturing, following the expiry of the previous policy that attracted 31 mobile companies to the country.

The Engineering Development Board (EDB), a government body under the Ministry of Industries and Production, has invited authorised mobile phone manufacturers for a meeting on November 10 to discuss the details of the new policy, the board said in a letter on Tuesday.

The meeting comes after the expiration of the Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy 2020-23 (MDMP 2020-23), which was introduced in 2020 and attracted 31 mobile companies to Pakistan, including brands such as Xaomi, Samsung, Nokia, Oppo, TECNO, Infinix, Vgotel, and Q-mobile.

The letter stated that the meeting would analyse the current and proposed tariff of local manufacturing of mobile devices and the selection of items and preparation of tariff structure for allied equipment such as POS machines, tablets, etc. for promotion of eco-system.

“The current and proposed tariff of local manufacturing of mobile devices and selection of items and preparation of tariff structure for allied equipment such as POS machines, tablets etc for promotion of eco-system will be analysed,” the letter said.

It would also finalise the localization plan under the proposed policy, the list of importable components for inclusion or exclusion from quota allotted to manufacturers, and the list of importable components with respect to minimum number of parts and components.

The meeting would also review the source of funding, collection and disbursement mechanism for research and development allowance and export subsidy, the feasibility of 3 percent or 8 percent as has been proposed, the ease of doing business, reduction of regulatory burden on industry, timelines for completion, and approval of policy documents.

The meeting will be chaired by the CEO of EDB, which works under the Ministry of Industries and Production. The board has initially invited only authorisation holders for mobile phone manufacturing, saying that it would hold meetings with other stakeholders at an appropriate time after the preparation of the preliminary report.

Media reports said that the MDMP 2020-23 enabled local mobile manufacturing and assembling and generated around $300 million in investment and 50,000 employment during the last two years since January 2021.

The local manufacturing plants manufactured/assembled 21.94 million phones handsets during the calendar year 2022 compared to 24.66 million in 2021, registering a decline, attributable to issues in imports on account of restricting the opening of the letters of credit (LC). Meanwhile, the commercially imported phones handsets stood at 1.53 million in 2022, significantly lower than 10.26 million in 2021, and 24.51 million in 2020.