Dhaka: State minister for Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology Tarana Halim on Thursday said the inauguration of Walton Smartphone plant has opened up a new era of 'Digital Bangladesh'.

"Today is a historical, a joyful and a glorious day for us. Through starting the journey of Walton Smartphone plant, Bangladesh has been enlisted in the list of mobile handsets manufacturing countries," said the state minister while briefing the media after inaugurating the country's first-ever smartphone manufacturing unit as the chief guest at Walton Digi Tech Industries Limited at Chandra in Gazipur on Thursday.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood also attended the event as special guest. Chairman of Walton Hi-tech Industries Limited SM Shamsul Alam and Chairman of Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited SM Rezaul Alam and Managing Director SM Monjurul Alam welcomed the state minister and other guests at the newly built Smartphone Manufacturing Plant with bouquets.

Walton Group’s Executive Directors SM Zahid Hasan, Mohammod Sirajul Islam and Alamgir Alam Sarker, Senior Operative Directors SM Rejoan Alam and Uday Hakim, Additional Directors Firoj Alam and Jahid Alam, and Media Adviser Enayet Ferdous, among others, were also present.

Thanking Walton for the initiative, Tarana Halim said, 'It was the long cherished dream of our prime minister that Bangladesh will turn into a manufacturer of mobile handsets. Today the dream became reality through Walton and Bangladesh has been enlisted among the mobile phone manufacturing countries.

She also thanked Walton authorities for their initiatives for providing mobile handsets at affordable prices to all specially the people who live in remote areas.

Informing that Walton is firm to manufacture high standard and quality handsets in the country, she added that they have fellfield all criteria set by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). She also hoped that Walton smartphones will do excellent in competition with other foreign brands.

At the inaugural programme, it was informed that Walton Smartphone Manufacturing unit has been set up under the banner of Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited on about 50,000 square feet areas with the initial annual production capacity of 25 to 30 lakh unit of handsets. There have been established several divisions like Design Develop, Research and Development, Quality Control and Testing Lab. World's latest machineries of Japan and German Technologies were set up at the plant.

With the aim of manufacturing Printed Circuit Board Assembled (PCBA) or Motherboard by installing very small size chips on PCB, Walton installed German Technology's SMT (Surface Mounting Technology) machine, said in a press release on Thursday.

After inaugurating the mobile handset plant, the state minister and other guests visited various units including Design Develop, Research and Development, Quality Control and Testing Lab.