KARACHI: President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), Mian Zahid Hussain, has said that five companies have submitted applications for setting up assembly line of mobile sets manufacturing, which is need of the time in view of high use of mobile phones in the country.
Talking to the business community, he said, this would also attract foreign direct investment in this profitable and growing sector. He said 77 percent of the smart phone users belong to the age group between 21-30 years and 60 percent of the users keep more than one mobile device at a time.
He said Pakistan’s telecom sector is playing vital role in economic development of the country.
Mian Zahid said according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the revenue of telecom sector for FY-2017 was estimated to be Rs 170 billion. He said FBR sources disclosed that telecom sector alone has paid more than Rs 4.5 billion on account of different taxes to government.
“Around 150 million people are using mobile phones; however, Pakistan’s own mobile company (Ufone) holds the lowest market share as per PTA,” he said, adding that apart from mobile phones users, more than 55 million people use broadband.
PBIF president stressed on the need that mobile service providers ought to improve their services and promote education and introduces affordable packages for students.
“This will not only boost revenues of this highly profitable sector but will also support the growing economy of the country,” he said, adding that mobile phones and internet services including 3G and 4G have positively impacted lives of people across the country and connected the distant people to the rest of the globe through internet.
Mian Zahid further said broadband users have significantly increased during the recent days in addition to basic telephony services. He cited a research that 16 percent of smart phone users use paid application in Pakistan while 84 percent use free mobile apps.
