In 2023, the number of mobile phones made or assembled locally dropped by around four percent. This happened because there were issues with getting parts for the phones due to restrictions on opening letters of credit. However, even with these restrictions, the number of mobile phones brought in from other countries went up, as per official information.
Local factories put together about 21.28 million mobile phones in 2023, which is less than the 21.94 million in 2022 and 24.66 million in 2021. But the number of mobile phones brought in from other countries increased from 1.53 million in 2022 to 1.58 million in 2023.
Out of the 21.28 million mobile phones made or put together locally, 13 million were older 2G phones, and 8.28 million were smartphones.
According to data from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), most of the mobile devices used in Pakistan are smartphones, making up 59 percent, while older 2G phones account for 41 percent.
During the first half of the fiscal year 2023-24 (July-December), Pakistan spent $792.612 million on importing mobile phones. This is a big increase of 118.45 percent compared to $362.841 million during the same period last year. In December 2023, the amount spent on importing mobile phones increased by 20.16 percent compared to November 2023, reaching $176.093 million. Compared to December 2022, there was a huge increase of 143.59 percent in the amount spent on importing mobile phones in December 2023.
Overall, the amount spent on importing telecommunications equipment into the country increased by 78.64 percent from July to December 2023 compared to the same period the previous year.
