Islamabad, Nov 24: During the first four months of the fiscal year 2024-25 (July-October), Pakistan imported mobile phones valued at $420.799 million, reflecting a 10.46% decline compared to $469.969 million in the same period of 2023-24.
In the previous fiscal year (2023-24), mobile phone imports totaled $1.898 billion, significantly higher than $570.071 million recorded in 2022-23.
In rupee terms, mobile phone imports during July-October 2024 amounted to Rs. 117.017 billion, showing a 13.62% decrease from Rs. 135.468 billion during the corresponding period in 2023.
However, imports surged 69.89% month-on-month (MoM) in October 2024, reaching $174.338 million compared to $102.618 million in September. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, imports grew by 5.06%, rising from $165.941 million in October 2023.
Overall telecom imports for July-October 2024 were $609.520 million, a marginal growth of 0.44% compared to $606.833 million during the same period in 2023. Telecom imports increased 53.92% MoM in October 2024, reaching $235.349 million compared to $152.905 million in September. On a YoY basis, imports grew by 13.27%, up from $207.786 million in October 2023.
From January to September 2024, local manufacturing plants produced 22.59 million mobile phones, while only 1.17 million units were imported commercially. In September alone, 2.15 million handsets were manufactured locally, compared to 0.07 million imported. Of the locally manufactured units, 8.73 million were 2G phones, while 13.86 million were smartphones.
As per PTA data, 64% of mobile devices in Pakistan are smartphones, while 36% are 2G phones.
