ISLAMABAD: Three Mobile Phone Companies To Set Up Manufacturing Plants In Pakistan for mobile phones after recent relaxations in withholding tax.
The government had recently promulgated an ordinance abolishing withholding tax on locally manufactured mobile sets. The step was taken to encourage the assembling and manufacturing of mobile phone parts in the country.
However, the investors will have to obtain multiple approvals as both the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Ministry of Industries and Production (MoIP) are the regulatory bodies in this regard.
“Now after tax relaxation, there is a difference of around Rs1,900 per set between a locally assembled mobile phone and an imported one with a value of $100,” said Amir Allahwala, chief executive of a company manufacturing Infinix and Techno mobile sets.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the Engineering Development Board (EDB) — an attached department of the MoIP — confirmed that three new entrants have applied for establishing manufacturing units in the country.
The three units being established in the country include Vivo mobiles in Faisalabad, Airlink in Lahore and Advance Telecom in Karachi.
