Alcatel and TCL Plans to Invest in Pakistan's Mobile Industry

On Tuesday, news came out that International tech giants TCL and Alcatel have planned on investing in Pakistan’s Mobile industry with Airlink.

According to the details, these developments come after the introduction of the recent mobile phone manufacturing policy and DIRBS that have contributed towards increasing local demand in the economy and have attracted foreign investors.

As per Pakistan Customs, the import of mobile through Device Identification, Registration, and Blocking System (DIRBs) has helped produce Rs.54 billion over the last year. For those who don’t know, the system was introduced by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Pakistan Customs to limit the use of trafficked devices in the country.

Furthermore, in May 2020, a mobile phone manufacturing policy was announced in Pakistan under which local smartphone manufacturers receive a 3% allowance on exports, and locally assembled handsets were discharged from a 4% withholding tax on domestic sales. As of now, 17 mobile phone manufacturers are operating in Pakistan. These have been greatly facilitated by the government policy initiated earlier this year.

Therefore, many foreign investors are interested in stepping into the Pakistani market. TCL and Alcatel are the first foreign investors willing to step in and based on the current situation, it looks like others will follow as well.

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