The government imported mobile phones worth $1.898 billion for the fiscal year 2023-24, indicating a gain of 233 percent when compared to $570.071 million during the fiscal year 2022-23. In terms of rupees, the nation imported mobile phones worth Rs. 535.690 billion in fiscal year 2023–24, a 291.45 percent increase over the previous year’s total of Rs. 136.847 billion.
According to statistics issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), mobile phone imports into Pakistan rose by 76.77 percent on a month-over-month (MoM) basis in June 2024, totaling $278.574 million, as opposed to imports of $157.592 million in May 2024.
In June 2024, the value of mobile phone imports increased by 419.90 percent year over year (YoY) to $53.582 million from June 2023.In comparison to $956.696 million in 2022–2023–the total amount of telecom imports into the nation increased by 147.36 percent to $2.366 billion in 2023–2024.
When compared year over year, the total telecom imports increased by 222% to $320.094 million in June 2024 from $96.415 million in June 2023. Comparing June 2024 to May 2024, the total telecom imports increased by 51.28 percent on a month-over-month basis to $211.586 million.
During the first five months of 2024, domestic manufacturing and assembly plants produced and assembled 13.08 million mobile devices, while commercial imports accounted for 0.76 million of the totals.
According to official figures, 2.23 million mobile devices were produced or assembled domestically in May, whereas 0.11 million were commercially imported. Among the 13.08 million mobile phones produced or assembled domestically were 8.1 million smartphones and 4.98 million 2G phones. Furthermore, according to PTA statistics, 39% of mobile devices on the Pakistan network are 2G, while 61% of mobile devices are smartphones.
In 2023, there was a four percent decrease in the local production and assembly of mobile phones. This reduction was caused by restrictions on issuing Letters of Credit (LCs) for mobile phone accessories, which led to problems with imports.
Official data, however, showed that during this time, commercial imports of mobile devices rose despite limitations.
