Pakistan's mobile phone imports rise 31.36% to $1.139 billion in first half of FY2025-26

Pakistan's mobile phone imports surged by over 31.36% during the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year 2025-26, totaling $1.139 billion compared to $867.7 million in the same period last year, according to official data.

In rupee terms, the total value of mobile phone imports stood at Rs 321.137 billion, marking a 33.07% increase compared to Rs 241.330 billion in the same period of 2024-25.

On a month-on-month basis, imports rose by 12.60%, reaching $179.38 million in January 2026, up from $159.3 million in December 2025. Year-on-year, January 2026 saw a 33.62% increase in imports compared to $134.24 million in January 2025.

In contrast, mobile phone imports for fiscal year 2024-25 stood at $1.494 billion, a decrease of 21.31% from $1.898 billion in 2023-24. In rupee terms, this decline was 22.09%, with total imports valued at Rs 417.35 billion, compared to Rs 535.69 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Overall telecom imports in Pakistan totaled $2.099 billion for FY 2024-25, reflecting an 11.30% decline from $2.366 billion in 2023-24.

Meanwhile, local manufacturing/assembling plants produced 30.21 million mobile handsets in 2025, including 15.64 million smartphones and 14.57 million 2G phones. In December 2025 alone, 2.61 million handsets were assembled, while 0.33 million were imported commercially.

According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), 71% of mobile devices in use in Pakistan are smartphones, while 29% are 2G devices.