In the first 5 months of the calendar year 2024, local manufacturing and assembling plants in Pakistan produced 17.34 million mobile handsets, significantly outpacing the 0.84 million units imported commercially during the same period, according to official data.

In June alone, local plants manufactured or assembled 4.26 million mobile handsets, compared to just 0.08 million units imported commercially. During the first five months of 2024 (January-May), the local production stood at 13.08 million units, while commercial imports were at 0.76 million units.

The 17.34 million locally produced handsets included 6.19 million 2G phones and 11.15 million smartphones. Data from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) indicates that 61 percent of mobile devices on the Pakistan network are smartphones, while 39 percent are 2G phones.

The country imported mobile phones worth $1.898 billion during the fiscal year 2023-24, marking a substantial growth of 233 percent compared to $570.071 million in the fiscal year 2022-23. In rupee terms, mobile phone imports amounted to Rs535.690 billion in 2023-24, a 291.45 percent increase from Rs136.847 billion in 2022-23.

On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, mobile phone imports surged by 76.77 percent in June 2024, reaching $278.574 million compared to $157.592 million in May 2024, as per data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Year-on-year (YoY), mobile phone imports saw a staggering 419.90 percent growth in June 2024, up from $53.582 million in June 2023.

Overall telecom imports into Pakistan totaled $2.366 billion during the fiscal year 2023-24, registering a 147.36 percent increase compared to $956.696 million in 2022-23. On a YoY basis, overall telecom imports grew by 232 percent, standing at $320.094 million in June 2024 compared to $96.415 million in June 2023.