Placement process of SMD (Surface Mount Device - micro sized transistors, capacitors, resistors etc.) on motherboards explained in a couple of videos.
@integra bhai any news of any other mobile manufacturer in Bangladesh going into this backward integration? Of course this is expensive (I believe you mentioned 100 crore for Walton).
12:00 AM, April 03, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 02:55 PM, April 03, 2018
Firms gearing up to make smartphones locally
Muhammad Zahidul Islam
Locally assembled 4G-enabled smartphones are set to hit the market in a few months' time after seven firms have applied to the telecom regulator to set up plants.
One of the seven firms is the world's largest smartphone maker, Samsung, which will officially announce the development of its plant in Narsingdi in a press conference in Dhaka today.
The South Korean electronics giant has teamed up with local Fair Electronics for the project and will start commercial production within May, said the top official of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission quoting the company's plan.
Both Samsung Bangladesh and Fair Electronics declined to comment on their plan.
But sources said the plant will assemble only 4G-enabled handsets and will gradually turn the factory into a full-fledged manufacturing plant. It has an initial target of assembling 50 lakh units a year.
Samsung will be joined by four others within a couple of months, while the other two plan to join the bandwagon soon, according to entrepreneurs.
The firms that have applied to the BTRC for approval said they would be able to cater 20 to 30 percent of the local demand for high-end phones initially.
Last year, Bangladesh imported Tk 10,000 crore worth of devices, meaning the local assembly will give the firms a Tk 2,000 crore to Tk 3,000 crore market share within a year, said Rezwanul Haque, a former general secretary of the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association.
“Our market has already become big and it is growing. So, we need to have the capability to cater to the market with our own products,” said Haque, also the chief executive officer of Transsion Bangladesh.
Transsion Bangladesh, the local chapter of a Chinese mobile phone maker, is developing a plant in Gazipur with a view to assembling 5 lakh units per month. The plant will go into commercial production by the end of May.
The local assembly will also help grow a good number of backward linkage industries in the days to come.
The backward linkage industries will manufacture batteries, chargers, headphones, mobile covers and other accessories, according to Haque.
In October last year, Walton became the first company in Bangladesh to set up an assembly plant for smartphones. Aamra Holdings, another local firm, also received a provisional licence and set up the plant.
It will begin commercial production at the end of Ramadan and will go for a soft launch in June, said AM Ehsan-ul Haque, chief operating officer for the smart solutions division at the company. Local market leader Symphony is seeking to set up a plant in Gazipur, a senior official of the company said.
Symphony is eying to launch its products ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr set to be celebrated in the middle of June.
Daffodil and Lava have also applied to the BTRC for licences to start assembling. Vendors said the local assembly would cut the prices of handsets by 10 percent to 20 percent.
Last year, the BTRC finalised a guideline to encourage manufacturing and assembling of handsets in Bangladesh. The government also slashed customs duty for mobile parts by 24 percentage points to 1 percent. There is about 30 percent tax on the imports of finished mobile devices.
“So, assembling of handsets will be very profitable according to the new tax structure. That's why both local and global players are showing interests,” said an official of the BTRC.
According to the regulator, some of the companies are even targeting to export devices which will make Bangladesh a mobile handset exporting nation from an importing one. Last year, Bangladesh imported 3.34 crore units of handsets, according to the BMPIA. Besides, 50 lakh handsets enter the country illegally every year.
The government said the scope to set up the manufacturing or assembly plants will provide local entrepreneurs the opportunity to invest in technology and create jobs.
12:00 AM, September 07, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 10:31 AM, September 07, 2018
Bangladesh on way to be a gadget-making hub
Star Business Report
The availability of workforce at a competitive wage, growing domestic market demand and a favourable policy are some of the key factors that make Bangladesh an attractive hub for high-tech manufacturing, according to a survey.
In its report, International Data Corporation (IDC) found success stories of local and international manufacturing companies, such as Walton and Samsung.
Global tech leader Samsung has started producing mobile phones in Bangladesh following in the footsteps of three local firms—Walton, Aamra Companies and Symphony—and a China-Bangladesh joint venture, Transsion Holdings, it said in the report.
The Singapore-based firm also showed evidence of the support provided by the government in driving the growth of the high-tech industry in Bangladesh.
The government has reduced duties on import of raw materials for the tech industry, exempted 100 percent value added tax on rents along with providing cash incentives and 100 percent tax discounts, it said.
“Population is the main strength of Bangladesh, home to around 80 million people under 25 years of age,” according to the IDC report launched yesterday.
Gadgets and laptops worth around $1.5 billion are sold in the country every year; about 34 million mobile handsets worth $1.18 billion and laptops worth $300 million were sold last year, IDC found.
The youths are giving a boost to the sector, where the gadget and laptop market is growing at around 12-20 percent every year, said Zarif Munir, partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group.
The officials of the group presented the findings of the report as one of the partners of the survey, at a programme held in the ICT Division in Dhaka.
The IDC is a premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services and events for the information technology, telecom and consumer technology markets.
Local companies are not lagging behind foreign peers. Walton has already completed production and shipment of laptops to Nepal, a major stride for a Bangladeshi company, the IDC report said.
Huawei Technologies, the largest telecom equipment maker based in China, has been investing to provide high-quality ICT infrastructure and network enhancement services in Bangladesh, the report reads. Another Chinese giant, Xiaomi, also plans to set up a plant in Bangladesh in the next two years, the IDC said.
“We have a huge local market and scopes are there to export tech products to the neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and even India's seven-sister states,” Mustafa Jabbar, telecom and ICT minister, said at the report launching ceremony.
He said the government is developing 28 high-tech parks, all of which would be ready for use in the next two years.
“Some of the parks have already started manufacturing and exporting different ICT products.” Smartphone penetration in Bangladesh stands at about 30 percent now and will hit 80 percent in the next few years, he said.
The government is giving tax holiday and cash incentive to assemblers with high quality infrastructure support and now seeking global leaders' investments, said Zuena Aziz, secretary to the ICT Division.
“Some developed nations, including China, are shutting down gadget plants due to the rising cost of production,” said Rezwanul Haque, CEO of Transsion Bangladesh and the former general secretary of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association.
The government has developed 79 economic zones spanning over 30,000 hectares and foreign companies will get all-out support if they want to invest in Bangladesh, said Kazi M Aminul Islam, executive chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority.
