Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $570.167 million during the first five months of the current fiscal year (July-November 2024-25), reflecting a 7.52% decline compared to $616.518 million during the same period last fiscal year, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
In rupee terms, imports amounted to Rs158.514 billion, registering a 10.60% decrease from Rs177.311 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Mobile phone imports showed a 14.32% decrease on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in November 2024, amounting to $149.375 million compared to $174.332 million in October 2024.
On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, however, imports grew by 1.93 percent compared to $146.549 million in November 2023.
The overall telecom imports, including mobile phones, stood at $794.363 million during July-November 2024, registering a marginal decline of less than one percent compared to $794.377 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Telecom imports fell by 21.41% MoM in November 2024, totaling $184.907 million compared to $235.287 million in October 2024. On a YoY basis, telecom imports dropped by 1.41% compared to $187.544 million in November 2023.
Meanwhile, local manufacturing continued to grow. Domestic manufacturing and assembling plants produced 22.59 million mobile handsets during the first nine months (January-September 2024), significantly outpacing the 1.17 million units imported commercially during the same period. In September alone, 2.15 million mobile handsets were manufactured locally, compared to 0.07 million imported commercially.
Of the 22.59 million locally manufactured handsets, 8.73 million were 2G devices, and 13.86 million were smartphones.
Data from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) revealed that 64% of mobile devices in use on Pakistani networks are smartphones, while 36% are 2G devices.
During FY23-24, Pakistan’s mobile phone imports stood at $1.898 billion, while imports during FY22-23 totaled $570.071 million. The latest trends reflect growing reliance on local production amid fluctuating import figures in the telecom sector.
