Pakistan’s mobile phone imports fell by 18.93% in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (July-September), amounting to $246.472 million, compared to $304.029 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year 2023-24. This decline in imports reflects ongoing economic challenges and a shift toward local manufacturing.
For the entire fiscal year 2023-24, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $1.898 billion, a significant jump from $570.071 million in 2022-23. However, the recent trend suggests a cooling off of this import surge.
Mobile Phone Imports in Rupee Terms
In rupee terms, the import value stood at Rs68.612 billion during the first quarter of 2024-25, a 22.86% decrease compared to Rs88.945 billion in the same period of 2023-24.
Monthly Trends Show MoM Growth
Despite the quarterly decline, mobile phone imports grew 29.32% month-on-month (MoM) in September 2024, reaching $102.629 million compared to $79.360 million in August 2024. However, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, imports dropped by 17.62% when compared to $124.576 million in September 2023.
Overall Telecom Imports Also Decline
Pakistan’s overall telecom imports saw a slight decline of 6.17% during the first quarter of 2024-25, standing at $374.410 million compared to $399.048 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year. On a MoM basis, telecom imports rose by 28.92% in September 2024, reaching $153.144 million, but on a YoY basis, the telecom imports decreased by 3.53% compared to $158.755 million in September 2023.
Local Mobile Phone Manufacturing Sees Strong Growth
While imports have decreased, local manufacturing of mobile phones has been on the rise. From January to August 2024, local plants manufactured or assembled 20.44 million mobile handsets, a stark contrast to only 1.1 million units imported commercially in the same period. In August 2024 alone, 1.49 million handsets were produced locally, compared to just 0.1 million imported.
Smartphones Dominate Local Production
Out of the 20.44 million locally produced handsets, 7.71 million were 2G phones, and 12.73 million were smartphones. According to PTA data, 62% of mobile devices connected to Pakistani networks are now smartphones, while 38% are 2G devices.
