G’FIVE to launch first ever ‘Made in Pakistan’ smartphone: Official

by Khalid Aziz

ISLAMABAD, March.14 (Gwadar Pro)— Chinese cell phone giant G’FIVE is all set to start manufacturing smartphones for the first time in Pakistan, said Hammad, who looks after plant operations at the company’s production facility in Lahore, Punjab.

“We pioneered assembling smartphones in Pakistan in 2014-15”, Hammad said, adding that the company was also going to introduce the first ever Pakistan-manufactured smartphone.

Hammad said that the company had made all necessary preparations for the purpose and was only awaiting authorisation of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) under its Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) policy. He said that the company intended to make all its models in Pakistan.

Rabia, finance specialist at the Karachi office of Transsion Holdings, subsidiary of another Chinese smartphone company, said that they were presently assembling several models of Infinix, TECNO and Itel brands. She stopped short of sharing details of the firm’s plans to get into manufacturing business in Pakistan.

However,  PTA said in a statement that ever since the MDM policy has been issued, several Chinese smartphone companies have sought authorisation for a manufacturing facility in Pakistan.  PTA said that as many as 33 companies were already assembling smartphones and manufacturing feature phones in Pakistan. The MDM policy is aimed at attracting firms to manufacture 3G and 4G devices here, according toPTA.

There are also reports that the Chinese cell phone company Vivo was also launching a Pakistan-made smartphone brand. However, the company’s authorised dealer in Rawalpindi did not confirm the news. “We are informed in advance whenever a new model is launched, but the company has not so far notified any such move”, the dealer said.