ISLAMABAD: Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $ 1.946 billion during the first 11 months (July-May) 2021-22 compared to $ 1.860 billion during the same period of last year, registering a growth of 4.62 percent, despite the increase in local manufacturing, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The overall telecom imports into the country during the period under review (July-May) 2021-22 increased by 11.15 percent going up from $ 2.337 billion in July-May 2020-21 to $2.597 billion during the same period of last period.
On a month-on-month basis, imports of mobile phones into Pakistan decreased by 35.54 percent during May 2022 and remained $ 137.213 million when compared to $ 212.881 million imported in April 2022, the PBS data revealed.
On a year-on-year basis, mobile phones witnessed a 21.82 percent negative growth when compared to $ 175.501 million in May 2021.
Jul-Apr mobile phone import grows 7.43pc to $1.81bn YoY
On a month-on-month basis, the overall telecom imports into the country decreased by 33.50 percent during May 2022 and remained at $ 183.985 million, when compared to the imports of $ 276.652 million in April 2022.
On a year-on-year basis, overall telecom imports witnessed 16.60 percent negative growth when compared to $ 220.559 million in May 2021. Other apparatus imports during July-May 2021-22 increased by 36.66 percent and remained $ 651.323 million compared to $ 476.612 million in July-May 2020-21.
Other apparatus imports registered 26.66 percent negative growth on a month-on-month basis and remained $ 46.772 million in May 2022 compared to $ 63.772 million in April 2022 and registered 3.71 percent growth when compared to $ 45.098 million in May 2022.
The local manufacturing plants have manufactured/assembled 9.72 million phone handsets during the first four months (January-April) of 2022 compared to 0.86 million imported commercially, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said.
The local manufacturing plants have manufactured/assembled 2.56 million mobile phone handsets in April 2022 against 0.25 million commercially imported.
The manufactured/assembled mobile phone handsets by local manufacturing plants during the calendar year 2021 stood at 24.66 million compared to 13.05 million in 2020, i.e. 88 percent increase.
The commercial imports of mobile phone handsets stood at 10.26 million in 2021 compared to 24.51 million in 2020, revealed the official data of the PTA.
The locally manufactured/assembled 9.72 million mobile phone handsets included 5.69 million 2G and 4.03 million smartphones.
Further, as per the PTA data, 53 percent of mobile devices are smartphones and 47 percent are 2G on the Pakistan network.
However, despite the increase in the local production of mobile phones, mobile phones were worth $ 1.946 billion during the first eleven months (July-May) of 2021-22 compared to $ 1.860 billion during the same period of last year.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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