‘70pc of phones assembled locally’

ISLAMABAD: Federal energy minister Hammad Azhar on Wednesday said around 70 percent of smartphones were assembled in Pakistan, after a year of introducing of mobile manufacturing policy.

Azhar remarked this at the launch of a first locally assembled smartphone by Samsung made at its Port Qasim plant under a joint venture with Lucky Group. He added that the Samsung's launch was a result of the success of Device Identification Registration & Blocking System (DIRBS) system launched three years ago. The minister spearheaded the policy and major agreements for local mobile manufacturing.

According to him, the government’s next target is the export of locally assembled smartphones from Pakistan. He also informed that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had collected over Rs135 billion in taxes under DIRBS.