During the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (July-September), Pakistan’s mobile phone imports amounted to $246.472 million, showing a sharp decrease of 18.93% from $304.029 million in the same period of the previous year. In terms of local currency, this decline was even steeper, with imports falling by 22.86% to Rs68.612 billion, down from Rs88.945 billion in the previous fiscal year.
Interestingly, despite the overall reduction in imports, September saw a significant increase in month-on-month imports, rising by 29.32% to reach $102.629 million. However, this figure still represents a drop of 17.62% compared to the $124.576 million worth of mobile phones imported in September 2023.
Telecom imports as a whole reached $374.410 million for the quarter, which was a 6.17% decrease from the corresponding period last year. This decline in imports is contrasted by a boom in domestic mobile phone production.
From January to August 2024, local manufacturing saw a significant rise, with 20.44 million handsets produced in Pakistan, demonstrating the country’s growing capacity to meet domestic demand through local production.
This trend suggests a positive shift towards self-reliance in the telecom sector, despite external economic pressures.