Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $246.472 million during the first quarter (July-September) of the fiscal year 2024-25, reflecting an 18.93% decline compared to $304.029 million during the same period in the previous fiscal year 2023-24.
In the fiscal year 2023-24, mobile phone imports totaled $1.898 billion, up from $570.071 million in the fiscal year 2022-23. In rupee terms, mobile handset imports during the first quarter of the current fiscal year amounted to Rs68.612 billion, a decrease of 22.86% compared to Rs88.945 billion in the same period last year.
Data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed that mobile phone imports increased by 29.32% month-on-month (MoM) in September 2024, reaching $102.629 million, compared to $79.360 million in August 2024. However, year-on-year (YoY) comparisons indicate a decline of 17.62% from $124.576 million in September 2023.
Overall telecom imports in the country amounted to $374.410 million during July-September 2024, reflecting a 6.17% decrease compared to $399.048 million during the same period in 2023. Telecom imports also saw a MoM increase of 28.92% in September 2024, totaling $153.144 million, up from $118.787 million in August 2024. However, YoY comparisons show a decline of 3.53% compared to $158.755 million in September 2023.
Local manufacturing and assembly plants produced 20.44 million mobile handsets during the first eight months (January-August) of 2024, significantly surpassing the 1.1 million mobile phones imported commercially. Official data indicated that 1.49 million mobile handsets were manufactured or assembled in August, compared to only 0.1 million imported.
Furthermore, data from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) shows that 62% of mobile devices on the Pakistan network are smartphones, while 38% are 2G devices.
