Samsung has been in talks with three investors about establishing a mobile manufacturing facility in Pakistan.
According to sources, one of the three parties has a franchise from Korea and has already established vehicle assembly factories in Pakistan as part of the Auto Development Policy (ADP) 2016-21, while the other two are unrelated.
According to them, no agreement has been inked yet because Samsung is in the midst of finalising its strategy to award the mobile manufacturing licence to one of the companies after shortlisting several.
In an earnings projection released on Wednesday, the world’s largest smartphone maker predicted an operating profit of roughly 12.5 trillion won ($11 billion) for April to June, up from 8.15 trillion won a year ago.
“The Korean company plans to start local cellphone assembly in the fourth quarter of this year,” a person familiar with the mobile phone sector told Dawn on Wednesday.
According to market sources, Samsung may prefer to sign an arrangement with one of the Korean firms operating in Pakistan due to a level of comfort that it may not find with non-Korean companies.
According to sources, the government has drafted the MDMP to encourage international companies to invest in Pakistan by establishing a cellphone manufacturing facility. The goal is to manufacture the goods under the “Make in Pakistan” banner and discourage imports.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), cellphone imports increased by 63 percent to $1.860 billion in 11MFY21 from $1.138 billion the previous fiscal year.
According to the Economic Survey 2020-21, the telecom sector attracted about $3.9 billion in foreign direct investment from July 2012 to February 2021. (FDI). FDI in telecom totaled $101.1 million from July to February in FY21. Between July and December of FY21, telecom operators invested $363.9 million.
