Pakistan saw a significant increase in mobile phone imports during the fiscal year 2023-24.

The value of mobile phone imports reached $1.898 billion, which represents a 233% growth compared to the previous fiscal year 2022-23, when the imports were valued at $570.071 million.

In rupee terms, the country’s mobile phone imports amounted to Rs 535.690 billion during 2023-24, registering a 291.45% growth compared to Rs 136.847 billion in 2022-23.

Additionally, Pakistan’s mobile phone imports increased by 76.77% on a month-on-month basis in June 2024, reaching $278.574 million, compared to $157.592 million in May 2024, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Business Recorder reported.

In June 2024, mobile phone imports saw a remarkable 419.90% year-on-year (YoY) growth, reaching $278.574 million compared to $53.582 million in June 2023.

The overall telecom imports into the country reached $2.366 billion during 2023-24, registering a 147.36% growth compared to $956.696 million in 2022-23. On a YoY basis, the overall telecom imports grew by 232% and stood at $320.094 million in June 2024 compared to $96.415 million in June 2023. On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the overall telecom imports increased by 51.28% in June 2024, up from $211.586 million in May 2024.

The local manufacturing and assembling plants produced 13.08 million mobile handsets during the first five months (January-May) of 2024, compared to 0.76 million imported commercially. In May 2024, the local manufacturing and assembling plants produced 2.23 million mobile handsets, while the commercial imports were 0.11 million.

The 13.08 million locally manufactured/assembled mobile handsets included 4.98 million 2G and 8.1 million smartphones. According to PTA data, 61% of mobile devices on the Pakistan network are smartphones, and 39% are 2G.

Read more

Pakistan imported over $1.3 billion worth of phones this year

More cellphones made/assembled in Pakistan than imports in Jan

Textile exports increase by 4.18 per cent in two months

Local manufacturing and assembling of mobile handsets declined by around 4% during the calendar year 2023, due to issues with imports of mobile phone accessories resulting from restrictions on opening Letters of Credit (LCs). However, commercial imports of mobile handsets increased during this period.

In 2023, the local manufacturing plants produced 21.28 million mobile handsets, compared to 21.94 million in 2022 and 24.66 million in 2021. Meanwhile, commercial imports increased from 1.53 million in 2022 to 1.58 million in 2023. The 21.28 million locally manufactured/assembled mobile handsets included 13 million 2G and 8.28 million smartphones.