South Asia Investor Review

Samsung is seeing strong demand for its locally assembled Galaxy S24 smartphones and tablets in Pakistan, according to Bloomberg . The company said it is struggling to meet demand. Pakistan’s mobile phone industry produced 21 million handsets while its smartphone imports surged over 100% in the last fiscal year, according to media reports . The world's 5th most populous country has 192 million mobile phone users and 135 million broadband subscribers, according to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA). It is the  world's 7th largest mobile phone market.  Pakistan Telecom March 2024 Indicators. Source: PTA Pakistani mobile phone manufacturers claim that almost all major mobile phone brands except iPhone are being assembled in Pakistan. “All mobile brands except iPhone are being manufactured in Pakistan and mobile phone import has been largely replaced with local manufacturing,” Aamir Allawala, vice chairman of the Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturers Association (PMP...

Soaring demand for consumer electronics and low labor costs are attracting major global smartphone manufacturers like Samsung to Pakistan. In 2021, local manufacturers produced 25 million handsets, up a whopping 88% increase from 13 million produced in 2020. A key factor credited for this rapid production ramp-up is the new Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy announced and implemented by former Prime Minister Imran Khan's government in 2020. It imposes high tariffs on the import of mobile phone sets and offers tax rebates for local manufacturing. The policy set a 49% localization target by June 2023, including 10% localization of components on the motherboard and 10% localization of batteries.  Pakistan is forecast to be the world's 7th largest consumer market by 2030. The key to attracting more manufacturing in Pakistan lies in continuation of pro-investment policies and a measure of political stability.  Pakistan Going From Imports to Exports of Mobile Handsets. Sourc...

Pakistan Federal Board of Revenue has recently announced that “Sales Tax and Income Tax at import stage has been drastically reduced in case of smartphones of Rs15,000 or below". This action was apparently taken after Digital Pakistan Initiative led by Tania Aidrus asked for it. It has come under fire from the country's nascent mobile phone and smartphone manufacturing industry which is producing low-cost mobile phones. Pakistan's mobile handset market is the 8th largest in the world. Current annual demand is for about 40 million units of which 13 million are assembled in Pakistan while the rest are imported, according to a report by Dunya News. The import bill for Fiscal Year 2020 is expected to be about $1.2 billion. Boosting it will save billions of dollars of precious foreign exchange. It will create tens of  thousands of jobs  and spawn new auxiliary manufacturing industries for chargers, headphones, USB cables, cases, etc.  In future, Pakistan could become a sign...

Many intelligence agencies are turning to the use of smartphone malware and spyware for the purpose of hacking and surveillance. The list of such agencies includes but not limited to US CIA, NSA, Mossad, RAW, MI6, ISI and others. Global proliferation of cyber hacking tools appears to have been accelerated with the US CIA's loss of control of its hacking tools including spyware, malware, viruses and trojans. Stealth Mango and Tangelo: Lookout, an American mobile security firm based in San Francisco, has recently published a  report  claiming that a "group or individuals that are believed to belong to the  Pakistani military  "has developed and released a "set of custom Android and iOS  surveillanceware tools  we’re respectively calling Stealth Mango and Tangelo".  The report says: "These tools have been part of a highly targeted intelligence gathering campaign we believe is operated by members of the Pakistani military". The countries affected by it...

Pakistan's average mobile broadband speed of 13.1 megabits per second is the fastest in South Asia, according to Ookla Global Speed Test Index 2017.  Mobile broadband speeds in other South Asian countries are: Myanmar 11.7, Nepal 11, Sri Lanka 9.3,  India 8.8  and Bangladesh 4.97. World Speed Rankings: South Asia region remains far behind the rest of the world. Pakistan ranks 89, Myanmar 94, Nepal 99, Sri Lanka 107, India 109 and Bangladesh 120 among 122 nations ranked by  Ookla .  Norway tops the list with 62.66 Mbps followed by the Netherlands 53, Iceland 52.78, Singapore 51.5 and Malta 50.46 Mbps.  United States is ranked 44 with 26.32 Mbps. Smartphones/broadband Growth: The growth of mobile broadband has spurred demand for smartphones. Pakistan now has nearly 50 million mobile broadband subscriptions with as many  smartphones . Both smartphones and broadband user base in Pakistan are surging at a rate of 1 to 2 million a month. Next...