During the first month of the calendar year 2024, local manufacturing/assembling plants produced 2.27 million mobile handsets, whereas 0.24 million were imported commercially.

Out of the 2.27 million locally manufactured/assembled mobile handsets, 0.72 million were 2G devices, while 1.55 million were smartphones. According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data, smartphones accounted for 60 percent of mobile devices on the Pakistan network, with 2G devices comprising the remaining 40 percent.

Also Read: Pakistan Sees 138% Surge in Mobile Phone Imports During the First 7 Months of FY24

In the calendar year 2023, local manufacturing/assembling of mobile handsets experienced a slight decline of around four percent, primarily due to issues related to imports caused by restrictions on opening letters of credit (LCs) for mobile phone accessories. However, despite these restrictions, official data indicated an increase in commercial imports of mobile handsets during the same period.

In 2023, local manufacturing plants produced/assembled a total of 21.28 million mobile handsets, compared to 21.94 million in 2022 and 24.66 million in 2021. Commercial imports rose from 1.53 million in 2022 to 1.58 million in 2023.

The locally manufactured/assembled 21.28 million mobile handsets in 2023 comprised 13 million 2G devices and 8.28 million smartphones.

In the first half (July-January) of the fiscal year 2023-24, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $987.539 million, marking a significant growth of 138.08 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. Specifically, in January 2024, mobile phone imports increased by 10.70 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis, reaching $194.928 million compared to $176.093 million in December 2023. Furthermore, mobile phone imports in January 2024 surged by 275.15 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, compared to $51.960 million in January 2023, as reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).