Mobile Phone Imports in Pakistan Drop by 13.6% in four months (July-October)

• Mobile phone imports in July-October 2024 declined by 10.46% in dollar terms to $420.799 million.
• Year-on-Year (YoY) imports grew by 5.06% to $165.941 million in October 2023.
• In rupee terms, mobile phone imports stood at Rs. 117.017 billion, a 13.62% decline from FY24.

In the first four months (July-October) of the fiscal year 2024-25, Pakistan’s mobile phone imports declined by 10.46% in dollar terms, amounting to $420.799 million compared to $469.969 million during the same period last year.

However, the imports showed a significant increase on a Month-on-Month (MoM) basis in October 2024, rising by 69.89% to $174.338 million compared to $102.618 million in September. Year-on-Year (YoY), October imports grew by 5.06% compared to $165.941 million in October 2023, as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In rupee terms, mobile phone imports for July-October 2024 stood at Rs. 117.017 billion, marking a 13.62% decline compared to Rs. 135.468 billion in the corresponding period of FY24.

The overall telecom imports for July-October 2024 registered a slight growth of 0.44%, reaching $609.520 million compared to $606.833 million in the same period last year. MoM, telecom imports rose by 53.92% in October 2024, totaling $235.349 million, while YoY, they increased by 13.27% compared to $207.786 million in October 2023.

On the production front, local manufacturing and assembly plants produced 22.59 million mobile handsets between January and September 2024, compared to just 1.17 million imported commercially. In September alone, 2.15 million handsets were produced locally, while only 0.07 million were imported.

Of the locally manufactured devices, 8.73 million were 2G phones, and 13.86 million were smartphones. According to PTA data, 64% of mobile devices on the network are smartphones, while 36% are 2G handsets.

This shift in production and imports underscores Pakistan’s focus on enhancing local manufacturing capabilities in the telecom sector.

Also Read

KSE-100 crosses 99,000 for first time in PSX history

A wave of profit-taking wiped out most intra-day gains at the Pakistan...