Hajra Naz
In comparison to the 0.3 million commercially imported mobile handsets during the first four months (January-April) of 2023, local manufacturing facilities produced/assembled 3.44 million units.
According to the official figures, 0.63 million mobile handsets were produced or assembled locally in April 2023, compared to 0.03 million that were imported for commercial use.
As compared to 2021, local manufacturing facilities produced or assembled 21.94 million mobile phones during the calendar year 2022, a decrease that can be attributed to problems with imports brought on by LC opening restrictions.
In contrast to the 1.53 million commercially imported phone handsets, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) estimates that approximately 21.94 million mobile handsets were produced in 2022.
2.79 million 2G and 0.65 million smartphone handsets were among the 3.44 million mobile phones that were produced or built locally.
In addition, the PTA data shows that 44 percent of mobile devices on the Pakistani network are 2G and 56 percent are smartphones.
The government imported mobile phones worth $473.287 million in the first 10 months (July–April) of the current fiscal year 2022–23, a decline of 73.84 percent from the $1.809 billion imported in the same time the year before.
Mobile phone imports into Pakistan fell by 28.69% month over month (MoM) in April 2023. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has provided data showing that in March 2023, imports totaled $14.846 million while exports were $10.587 million.
In April 2023, mobile phone imports totaled $212.881 million, a 95.03 percent decrease year over year (YoY) from April 2022’s $212.881 million.
