The Bangladeshi electronics and ICT product manufacturer giant Walton looks about to create another milestone in the country’s export sector through introducing the first-ever export of “Made in Bangladesh” tagged smartphones in the global market.
Walton will supply the smartphones to a renowned American brand as the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)
The country’s first-ever smartphone export to the United States is likely to be inaugurated by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited (WDIL) in Chandra, Gazipur, on March 1.
Posts, Telecommunications and ICT Minister Mustafa Jabbar and State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak will also be present at the inauguration.
Dwelling on the first-ever smartphone export to the global market, Walton Managing Director SM Monjurul Alam said: “The dream of ‘Made in Bangladesh’ tagged ICT devices became true with the launching of the country’s first full-fledged mobile phone manufacturing industry in 2017.
Within a short time, he said, the good quality of the locally finished smartphones with advanced features has drawn buyers’ attention as well as trust. Now, Walton is manufacturing international standard smartphones which will be exported to the US, he added.
He noted that Europe, Australia and other developed nations would be the next export destinations soon.
Last year, Walton inked an agreement with the US based E-commerce giant Amazon to market “Made in Bangladesh” labelled electronics and ICT devices in the US market.
Very soon, Walton-branded laptops, computers, mobile phones, compact mini refrigerators, home and electrical appliances will be available for sale on the Amazon website.
After meeting the lion’s share of domestic demands, Walton has been exporting a wide range of electronics and electrical appliances to around 35 countries of Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The “Made in Bangladesh” tagged Walton products will further brighten Bangladesh’s image in the global market through earning goodwill for the country.
Now, Walton is moving forward with the target of turning the Bangladesh brand into the best global brand by 2030.
How Walton’s smartphone journey began
Walton inaugurated the country's first ever mobile phone production plant in October 2017.
Since then, it has manufactured 6 million handsets (1.7m smartphones and 4.3m feature phones).
Walton meets its entire demand from local production and since 2018, it has stopped importing any handset.
At present Walton's production capacity is 8m smartphones and 2m feature phones per month.
Besides, handsets, Walton also manufactures mobile phone accessories and meets its entire demand of accessories from local production. The locally made accessories and mobile parts include chargers, batteries, earphones, housing, PCB (printed circuit board), USB cables, etc.
Currently, Walton produces 10m chargers, 500,000 to 600,000 batteries and earphones.
Meanwhile, it has doubled production capacity.
Last year, Walton sold 1,201,620 pieces of smartphones and another 4,176,407 feature phones in the local market.
Recently, Walton received International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certificates as a cell phone manufacturer. The ISO certificates in three categories include: ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management System), ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management System) and ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health and Safety Management System.
