Pakistan Imported Mobile Phones Worth Rs. 18 Billion in First Month of FY25

The country imported mobile phones worth $64.504 million in the first month (July) of the current fiscal year 2024-25, registering a negative growth of 5.30 percent compared to $68.113 million during the same period of the last fiscal year 2023-24. In rupee terms, the country imported mobile phones of Rs. 17.957 billion during July 2024, registering a 6.18 percent decline compared to Rs. 19.140 billion during the same month of 2023. Pakistan’s mobile phone imports decreased by 76.84 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in July 2024 and stood at $64.504 million compared to imports of $278.574 million in June 2024, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The overall telecom imports into the country stood at $102.587 million during July 2024 and registered a 13.25 percent growth compared to $90.588 million during July 2023. The country imported mobile phones worth $1.898 billion during the fiscal year 2023-24, registering a growth of 233 percent when compared to $570.071 million during the fiscal year 2022-23. The local manufacturing/ assembling plants manufactured/ assembled 17.34 million mobile handsets during the first half (January-June) of the calendar year 2024 compared to 0.84 million imported commercially. Official data revealed that the locally manufactured/assembled 4.26 million mobile handsets in June compared to 0.08 million imported commercially. The local manufacturing/assembling plants manufactured/assembled 13.08 million mobile handsets during the first five months (January-May) of the calendar year 2024 compared to 0.76 million imported commercially. The locally manufactured/assembled 17.34 million mobile phone handsets included 6.19 million 2G and 11.15 million smartphones. Besides, as per the PTA data, 61 percent of mobile devices are smartphones, and 39 percent are 2G on the Pakistan network.