Pakistan’s Mobile Phone Imports Experience Sharp Decline in 8 Months of FY22-23

Pakistan’s mobile phone imports have seen a decrease of 68.29 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year 2022-23, as reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). This is in comparison to the same period last year, where imports stood at $1.412 billion. In February 2023, mobile phone imports recorded a negative growth of 36.39 percent on a month-on-month basis, amounting to $33.054 million compared to $51.960 million in January 2023. On a year-on-year basis, mobile phone imports saw a negative growth of 76.73 percent in February 2023, compared to $142.033 million during the same month of the previous year.

Mobile Phone Imports Witness Sharp Decline

Moreover, the overall imports of telecom products in the current fiscal year stood at $708.798 million, marking a negative growth of 62.08 percent compared to the same period in the previous year, which recorded imports worth $1.869 billion.

However, on a year-on-year basis, the overall telecom imports have seen a decrease of 70.22 percent, amounting to $64.741 million in February 2023 compared to $217.396 million during the same month in 2022. Moreover, the MoM basis of overall telecom imports saw a growth of 17.36 percent in February 2023, with imports worth $78.337 million in January 2023.

During the period of July-February 2022-23, other apparatus imports amounted to $260.944 million, experiencing a negative growth of 42.90 percent compared to $456.967 million during the same period in the previous fiscal year.

In February 2023, other apparatus imports amounted to $31.687 million, experiencing negative growth of 57.95 percent compared to $75.364 million in February 2022. However, on an MoM basis, other apparatus imports saw a growth of 20.13 percent in February 2023, with imports worth $26.377 million in January 2023.

According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), local manufacturing plants have manufactured/assembled 0.87 million mobile phone handsets during January 2023, compared to 0.07 million commercially imported handsets.

In the calendar year 2022, local manufacturing plants manufactured/assembled 21.94 million mobile phone handsets, which is a decline compared to the previous year, attributable to import restrictions on account of opening letters of credit (LCs). Furthermore, the locally manufactured/assembled handsets include 0.56 million 2G and 0.3 million smartphones. As per the PTA data, 57 percent of mobile devices in Pakistan are smartphones, and 43 percent are 2G.

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