Islamabad, Feb 8: In 2024, Pakistan significantly boosted its local mobile phone production, meeting 95% of domestic demand through local manufacturing, a marked improvement compared to the five-year average of 67% and the eight-year average of 47%, according to a report by Topline Securities. Data from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) revealed that local manufacturers assembled 2.95 million mobile phones in December alone, a 28% increase from the previous month.
However, this surge in local production comes alongside a rise in mobile phone imports. The State Bank of Pakistan reported that mobile phone imports surged to $52.9 million in the first half of fiscal year 2025 (FY25), up from $35.2 million in the same period last year. The overall telecom sector import bill also saw a notable increase, rising 22.61% to $1.03 billion during the same period, compared to $840 million the previous year. In fiscal year 2024, Pakistan’s telecom imports totaled $1.89 billion, with mobile phone imports accounting for $65.6 million—almost six times higher than the $11.6 million recorded in fiscal year 2023.
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Despite the rise in imports, local manufacturing continued to expand in 2024, with a total of 31.38 million units produced, marking a 47% increase from the previous year. Notably, 59% of these were smartphones, totaling 18.64 million units, while 41% were 2G feature phones, amounting to 12.74 million units. Infinix emerged as the top-selling locally assembled brand, with 3.98 million units sold, followed by Itel with 3.64 million units, and VGO Tel with 3.37 million units. Other significant brands included Tecno, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Realme.
As of January 2024, Pakistan had 188.9 million mobile connections, covering 77.8% of the population. The country ranked seventh globally in terms of the number of mobile phones, with a total of 193.2 million devices. Much of Pakistan’s mobile manufacturing and assembling is carried out with the support of Chinese companies, contributing to the sector’s rapid growth and positioning it as one of the fastest-growing areas in Pakistan’s economy.
