In the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $246.472 million, marking a significant decrease of 18.93% compared to $304.029 million during the same period in the previous fiscal year 2023-24.
This decline in imports comes after the country imported mobile phones valued at $1.898 billion throughout the fiscal year 2023-24, a substantial increase from $570.071 million in the fiscal year 2022-23.
In terms of local currency, mobile handset imports amounted to Rs68.612 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, showing a negative growth of 22.86% compared to Rs88.945 billion in the same period last year.
Despite the overall decline, mobile phone imports saw a Month-on-Month (MoM) increase of 29.32% in September 2024, reaching $102.629 million, up from $79.360 million in August 2024, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). However, on a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis, imports in September 2024 decreased by 17.62% compared to $124.576 million in September 2023.
The total telecom imports for the country during July-September 2024 stood at $374.410 million, reflecting a 6.17% decrease compared to $399.048 million in the same period of 2023. On a MoM basis, overall telecom imports rose by 28.92% in September 2024, reaching $153.144 million, up from $118.787 million in August 2024. Yet, on a YoY basis, there was a 3.53% decline compared to $158.755 million in September 2023.
A significant factor in the reduced import figures is the rise in local manufacturing and assembly of mobile phones. From January to August 2024, local plants manufactured or assembled 20.44 million mobile handsets, compared to just 1.1 million units imported commercially. In August alone, 1.49 million handsets were locally produced, while only 0.1 million were imported.
The locally manufactured handsets included 7.71 million 2G phones and 12.73 million smartphones. According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), 62% of mobile devices on the network are smartphones, while 38% are 2G devices.
