BTRC allows 2 more local firms to make mobile phones

Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Authority (BTRA) recently permitted two more local companies to manufacture and assemble mobile handsets amid a downturn in the industry producing and selling  handsets

And with the addition of two newly permitted companies -- Salextra Limited and Halima Mobile Industries, there are a total of 17 mobile handset makers now in the country.

However, the Cumilla-based Halima Mobile Industries, an arm of Halima Group, is yet to begin production due to difficulties in opening letters of credit.
On the other hand, Salextra Limited is already churning out Nokia-branded smartphones and feature phones at its Gazipur unit.

In 2021, Vibrant Software (BD) Ltd, a joint venture of the UKs Vibrant Software and member of Bangladeshs Union Group, became the first to get approval for assembling Nokia devices and set up a factory to this end.

And using its arm Cellular Mobile (Pte) Limited (CMPL), Union Group was the first to import Nokia device to the country in 1996.

However, the companys journey in local manufacturing of Nokia devices came to an end last year due to a dispute between the partner companies.

Shakib Arafat, managing director at Salextra, claim they are a local tech-device manufacturing startup and said "We recently received a license from BTRC and partnered with HMD Global. We are now a manufacturer and distributor of Nokia-branded phones in Bangladesh," he added.

HMD Global, a company set up by former executives of Nokia and Microsoft, secured a license for marketing and manufacturing of Nokia in 2016. "At our 54,000 square feet plant, we are now assembling Nokia phones and will go for manufacturing soon," Arafat said.

He also said Salextra was launched in 2020 as a startup with only 5 employees and the number has since risen to nearly 500.

Apart from its partnership with Nokia, the company also produces smartwatches, neckband headphones, earbuds and other gadgets.

"We have the capacity to produce 3 lakh feature phones and smartphones on six production lines. A total of 370 people are employed at our mobile operations, with 40 percent being women," he added.

Salextra has already sold about 1.7 lakh Nokia handsets in local market over the past month.

Meanwhile, Halima Group, which produces mobile accessories such as chargers, batteries, power banks and feature phones for other vendors, will now make feature phones of their own brand. The company will now focus on mainly producing feature phones and to eventually produce smartphones.

"We are planning to design a smartphone but we need more time for that," said Ezaz Hossain Khan Joy, assistant general manager for mobile operations of Halima Mobile Industries.

The company now employs about 130 people at its plant, which has three assembly lines with the capacity of producing 7,000 mobile phones each day.