Since the establishment of the Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has produced Rs. 122 billion in revenue through taxes and customs on commercial imports of mobile phones and devices.
Commercial imports increased by up to 125 percent in three years, according to official statistics, with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collecting Rs. 122 billion in revenue from these imports between 2018 and 2021.
In addition, the government collected Rs. 35 billion in individual imports between 2019 and 2021. This was an undeveloped sector prior to the advent of DIRBS, with no income collection in this category.
DIRBS is now in its third year of operation, following a successful start in 2019. The system continued to achieve its specific goals of eliminating Pakistan’s grey handset market and getting rid of counterfeit, substandard, and non-GSMA approved handsets.
The broader impact of DIRBS included a significant reduction in incidents of mobile handset snatching and theft, increased government revenues, a newly established handset manufacturing ecosystem, and 100 percent registered handsets across all cellular networks in Pakistan.
The impact of DIRBS on the status of blocked, banned, and barred devices in Pakistan is as follows:
- 26.03 million fake/replica mobile devices blocked.
- 175,000 International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) devices (reported stolen) banned.
- 880,780 IMEI devices identified as cloned/duplicated against 5.28 million MSISDN barred on networks.
DIRBS has created a level playing field in Pakistan for all entities, resulting in the establishment of local assembly plants. In light of the industry’s successful development, the PTA issued MDM Regulations, 2021, in accordance with the government’s Mobile Manufacturing Policy, which was issued in June 2020.
The policy provides incentives, such as tax breaks, to all entities that establish manufacturing plants in Pakistan.
PTA has granted 10-year MDM authorization to 30 local and foreign companies, both standalone and joint venture, and they have established manufacturing plants for the purpose.
Leading brands such as Oppo, Vivo, Nokia, Techno, and Infinix have established manufacturing facilities in Pakistan.
Local manufacturing has enabled smartphone manufacturing in Pakistan, created job opportunities in skilled fields, and increased consumer affordability.
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