Pakistan becomes smartphone exporter

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has become exporter of smartphones by sending first-ever shipment tagged ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’ to the United Arab Emirates.

The first consignment of 5,500 mobile sets of 4G smartphones manufactured by Inovi Telecom was exported to the UAE on Friday.

Adviser to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood confirmed the news through his twitter handle.

He took to twitter and wrote, “It’s a great day for Pakistan’s exports as Inovi Telecom has just exported the first consignment of 5,500 “Made in Pakistan” 4G mobile phones to the Middle East. We hope that this will be the beginning of an era of high value-added exports from Pakistan.”

It’s a great day for Pakistan’s exports as Inovi Telecom has just exported the first consignment of 5,500 “Made in Pakistan” 4G mobile phones to the Middle East. We hope that this will be the beginning of an era of high value-added exports from Pakistan.

— Abdul Razak Dawood (@razak_dawood) August 14, 2021

The Pakistan Telecommunication Auth­ority on Saturday congratulated the company for the achievement and hoped the exports of smart phones would increase further. “This is the result of concerted efforts for the development of mobile device manufacturing ecosystem in the country,” said the regulator in a statement.

Press Release: PTA Authorization holder Inovi Telecom has started exporting smart phones to other countries. The first consignment of 5500 units of 4G smart phones carrying “Manufactured in Pakistan” tag has been exported to UAE.

— PTA (@PTAofficialpk) August 14, 2021

Inovi Telecom Pvt Ltd was issued authorisation for mobile device manufacturing in April and it has managed to fulfill its first export order within four months. Chief Executive Zeeshan MianNoor said that their main target was to penetrate in low-end markets of Middle East including Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

“We are manufacturing the Chinese brands and there are a large number of expat workers in the Gulf countries,” he said, adding the hi-end consumers of Gulf countries prefer top world class mobile brands and we should not even try to get involved in that market.”

He said that the mass market of Gulf countries was their primary target, while the ordinary citizens of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan too preferred mobile sets up to $100 each.