Pakistan’s mobile phone imports rise 26.6% to $1.89 billion in FY26

Pakistan’s mobile phone imports rose 26.55% to $1.889 billion in FY2025-26, compared with $1.492 billion in the preceding fiscal year, according to official data.

In rupee terms, handset imports increased 27.24% to Rs530.492 billion from Rs416.937 billion in FY2024-25.

Imports also increased in June, rising 11.88% month-on-month to $141.556 million from $126.527 million in May 2026. On a year-on-year basis, the June import bill grew 2.62% from $137.941 million in the same month last year.

Overall telecom imports reached $2.690 billion during FY2025-26, up 27.97% from $2.102 billion a year earlier.

The rise follows a decline in the previous fiscal year. A separate annual comparison placed mobile phone imports at $1.494 billion in FY2024-25, down 21.31% from $1.898 billion in FY2023-24.

In rupee terms, imports in that comparison fell 22.09% to Rs417.351 billion from Rs535.690 billion in FY2023-24.

Meanwhile, local manufacturing and assembly plants produced 11.17 million mobile handsets during the first five months of calendar year 2026, compared with 1.91 million units imported commercially.

The locally assembled total comprised 4.92 million smartphones and 6.25 million 2G phones.

Pakistan also assembled 101,005 5G-enabled handsets in May 2026, compared with 553,079 units during the whole of 2025.

During calendar year 2025, local plants manufactured or assembled 30.21 million mobile phones, while commercial imports stood at 2.37 million units.

According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority data, smartphones account for 72.3% of mobile devices operating on Pakistan’s networks, while 2G phones make up the remaining 27.7%.