Pakistan’s Mobile Phone Imports Rise Nearly 30% in First Eight Months of FY26

Pakistan’s mobile phone imports recorded a notable rise during the first eight months of FY26. According to official data, the country imported mobile phones worth $1.295 billion from July to February, compared to $999.55 million during the same period last year. This reflects a growth of about 29.6 percent.

When measured in local currency, the value of these imports reached Rs364.68 billion during July–February 2025–26, up from Rs278.16 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year, showing an increase of 31.1 percent.

Pakistan’s Mobile Phone Imports Rise Nearly 30% in First Eight Months of FY26

However, on a month-to-month basis, mobile phone imports declined in February 2026. Imports totaled $155.55 million in February, which was 13.26 percent lower than the $179.34 million recorded in January 2026. Despite this monthly drop, imports in February 2026 were still 17.95 percent higher than the $131.87 million recorded in February 2025.

Looking at the previous fiscal year, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $1.494 billion during 2024–25. This represented a decline of 21.31 percent compared to $1.898 billion in the fiscal year 2023–24. In Pakistani rupees, mobile phone imports during 2024–25 totaled Rs417.35 billion, which was 22.09 percent lower than Rs535.69 billion recorded a year earlier.

Overall telecom imports also decreased in the last fiscal year. Pakistan imported telecom equipment worth $2.099 billion in 2024–25, reflecting a drop of 11.30 percent from $2.366 billion in 2023–24.

See Also: National CERT Issues Cybersecurity Advisory for Federal Ministries to Protect the e-Office System

At the same time, local mobile phone production continues to grow. During January 2026, local manufacturing and assembling plants produced 1.69 million mobile handsets, compared to only 0.47 million phones imported commercially during the same month.

For the full calendar year 2025, local plants manufactured or assembled 30.21 million mobile phones, while only 2.37 million units were commercially imported.

Out of the 1.69 million handsets produced in January 2026, around 0.92 million were smartphones and 0.77 million were 2G phones. Data from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) also shows that smartphones account for about 71 percent of mobile devices currently active on Pakistan’s network, while the remaining 29 percent are 2G devices.