Jan-Sep 2023: 13.02m mobile handsets manufactured locally

ISLAMABAD: Local manufacturing plants have manufactured/assembled 13.02 million mobile handsets during the first nine months (January-September) of 2023 compared to 1.09 million imported commercially.

The local manufacturing plants have manufactured/assembled 2.15 million mobile handsets during September 2023 compared to 0.25 million imported commercially.

Local manufacturing plants manufactured/assembled 21.94 million mobile handsets during the calendar year 2022 compared to 24.66 million in 2021, i.e. registered a decline, attributable to issues in imports on account of restricting the opening of letters of credit (LCs).

Around 21.94 million mobile handsets were assembled during the calendar year 2022 - compared to 1.53 million commercially imported phones handsets, said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The locally manufactured/assembled 13.02 million mobile phone handsets included 9.01 million 2G and 4.02 million smartphones.

Besides, as per the PTA data, 57 percent of mobile devices are smartphones, and 43 percent are 2G on the Pakistan network.

Pakistan’s mobile phone imports crossed Rs37 billion in September 2023, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

According to PBS data, the imports of Rs37.1 billion in September 2023 were 13.3 percent higher than imports of Rs32.7 billion registered in the previous month i.e. August 2023.

The imports during the first three months of the current fiscal year i.e. July-September FY24 came in at Rs 88.95 billion, up 147 percent compared to imports of Rs 35.9 billion registered in the same period of the previous fiscal year (FY23).

In dollar terms, the imports in September stood at $ 124.51 million, up 12 percent compared to imports of $ 111.34 million in August 2023 and up 113 percent compared to imports of $ 58.407 million in September 2022.

In dollar terms, the imports in July-September fiscal year 2023-24 stood at $ 304 million, up 89 percent compared to imports of $ 160.2 million registered in the same period of fiscal year 2023.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023