Here’s How Many New Mobile Phone Assembly Plants Pakistan Got Since DIRBS Launch

The implementation of PTA’s Device Identification, Registration, and Blocking System (DIRBS) in 2019 has resulted in a significant increase in legal import of mobile devices and the establishment of over 33 local assembly plants of mobile devices in Pakistan.

These plants have produced over 25 million mobile devices, including 4G smartphones, since the implementation of the system.

With the successful execution of DIRBS, the local assembly industry has evolved from infancy to a well-growing stage, with significant growth seen in the local assembly of smartphones.

In 2019, only 119,639 smartphones were assembled locally. Whereas, in 2020, the number of such devices grew to 2.1 million. It is important to highlight that at the end of the second month of 2021, 1.21 million smartphones have been assembled in Pakistan.

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PTA Notifies Mobile Device Manufacturing Regulations 2021

In the light of this tremendous impact of DIRBS, the Government of Pakistan has introduced a comprehensive Mobile Manufacturing Policy to encourage and attract manufacturers to Pakistan and establish their plants.

PTA has issued Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations and has started receiving mobile device manufacturing applications. This initiative will help create more jobs in this sector and enable consumers to buy locally manufactured mobile devices.

Pakistan has the distinction of implementing the world’s first open-source, full-fledged DIRBS. This system can identify all IMEIs latched on Pakistan’s mobile networks and categorize them based on their compliant status.