In July 2024, the country imported mobile phones valued at $64.504 million, marking a 5.30 percent decrease compared to $68.113 million in the same month of the previous fiscal year 2023-24. In terms of local currency, mobile phone imports amounted to Rs. 17.957 billion in July 2024, which is a 6.18 percent decline from Rs. 19.140 billion in July 2023. On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, mobile phone imports dropped significantly by 76.84 percent, from $278.574 million in June 2024 to $64.504 million in July 2024, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Overall telecom imports for July 2024 reached $102.587 million, showing a 13.25 percent increase compared to $90.588 million in July 2023.
READ MORE: IT Exports Jump 34% Year-on-Year in July 2024
For the fiscal year 2023-24, mobile phone imports totaled $1.898 billion, representing a substantial 233 percent growth from $570.071 million in the fiscal year 2022-23.
Locally, manufacturing and assembling plants produced 17.34 million mobile handsets in the first half of 2024 (January-June), compared to 0.84 million imported commercially. In June alone, 4.26 million handsets were manufactured/assembled locally, while only 0.08 million were imported. From January to May 2024, 13.08 million handsets were produced locally, with 0.76 million imports.
The locally produced 17.34 million mobile phones included 6.19 million 2G handsets and 11.15 million smartphones. According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data, 61 percent of mobile devices on the network are smartphones, while 39 percent are 2G devices.
