ISLAMABAD: The country’s first Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations 2021 have been notified and enforced from Jan 25 to encourage local production and assembly of mobile devices.

Notifying these regulations on Monday, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), the telecom sector regulator, said that finished manufactured device made locally should display the label ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’.

It is made obligatory that all devices have to be manufactured as per ITU Telecommunication Standardisation Sector (ITU-T) technical standards.

The manufacturers and the assemblers will have to provide their complete production record to the PTA, and all the devices including their IMEI numbers have to be registered with the authority.

The licence holder can also assemble/manufacture mobile devices for a specific brand, with the approval of the original manufacturer.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2021