The country has witnessed a 63% increase in the import of mobile devices via legal channels for the year 2018-19, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Since the implementation of the Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS), around 17.2 million devices were imported in 2018 while 28.02 million were imported in 2019.

This year Pakistan has imported around 32.83 million devices so far, as per PTA’s press release.

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PTA implemented DIRBS System in December 2018, with the aim to curtail counterfeit mobile phone usage, discourage mobile phone theft and protect consumer interest. Through DIRBS, PTA has identified and blocked 24.3 Million fake replica mobile devices and 657,645 IMEIs that were duplicated.

The implementation of DIRBS has also been the catalyst for local mobile devices manufacturing, leading to the establishment of 29 local assembly facilities. Since 2019, over 20 million devices have produced in these facilities.

Moreover, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected a total of Rs90 billion in customs duties on formal imports during January 2010-November 2020. This is Rs68 billion more custom duties as compared to custom duties collected in 2018. i.e. Rs22 billion.

DIRBS has enabled FBR to collect Rs9bn revenue under the individual category from January 2019 to Dec 3, 2020. The PTA said it was an untapped area and no revenue was being collected in this category before the implementation of DIRBS.