Haier Pakistan to start mobile phone production unit in 2015

Haier Pakistan has announced that it will start a mobile phone assembling and production facility in the country by the end of 2015. Haier Pakistan mobile phone production This was declared by the President of Ruba-SEZ Group, Mr. Shah Faisal Afridi in a media gathering organized for the launching of 15 mobile phones from the company. While talking to More Magazine, Mr. Afridi said,”we will invest some $8 million in 2015 for expanding our mobile phone division and with the expertise of our Chinese friend, Haier will generate employment for more than 800 people in its production facility”. “We are not relying on importing mobile phones from China but our focus is the transfer of technology in the country so that we could manufacture our own product here. We have already started an assembly line for the laptops in Pakistan”, added Afridi. Today, Haier Pakistan assembles some 2000 laptops in Pakistan every month which it mainly produces for Prime Minister Laptop Distribution Scheme. The company plans to enhance the capacity by the end of 2015 when it starts production for the masses. Pakistan is a market of 2.5 million mobile phones that are imported every month. Afridi foresees that with the introduction of Haier mobile phones in the country, the figure will go up by 30% by the end of current year. To a question about the quality of phones, Afridi responded as, “after the entry of Haier mobile phones into the market, non-branded and weak quality phones will be filtered out in the first phase. We are eyeing to position our product with the brands like Huawei and Apple”. “One needs to feel the product that we are providing now. No other brand in Pakistan has created the eco-system that we have designed for our customers. Our phones will be integrated with other Haier’s electronic products available in the market”, added Afridi Haier Pakistan has announced three categories of handsets including feature phones, mid-level and high-level smartphones. It is yet to be seen the actual performance of the company in a new and different market which is much volatile than home appliances business. However, with the initiatives like Haier, a very positive message for the foreign investors is certainly on the wall.