Local mobile manufacturing plants produced or assembled 19.7 million phone handsets from January to November 2022, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Local mobile manufacturing plants produced or assembled 19.7 million phone handsets from January to November 2022, compared to 1.37 million commercially imported phone handsets, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
In November 2022, local manufacturing plants produced or assembled 1.56 million mobile phone handsets.
Local manufacturing plants produced or assembled 24.66 million mobile phones in calendar year 2021, up from 13.05 million in 2020, representing an 88 percent increase. According to PTA data, commercial mobile phone imports stood at 10.26 million in 2021, up from 24.51 million in 2020.
The locally manufactured and assembled 19.7 million mobile phones included 11.5 million 2G and 8.2 million smart phones. Furthermore, according to PTA data, smart phones account for 55% of mobile devices on the Pakistan network, while 2G devices account for 45%.
Despite the increase in local production of mobile phones, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $ 290.570 million during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year 2022-23, representing a 66.08 percent decrease from the same period last year.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), mobile phone imports fell 1.92 percent month on month (MoM) and stood at $64.520 million in November 2022, compared to $65.780 million in October 2022.
Mobile phone imports fell 69.57 percent year on year (YoY) to $ 212.058 million in November 2022, compared to the same month the previous year. Overall telecom imports into the country totaled $ 455.731 million in the first five months of fiscal year 2022-23, a 59.67 percent decrease from the same period the previous fiscal year.
The successful implementation of the Device Identification, Registration, and Blocking System (DIRBS), as well as supportive government policies, such as the mobile manufacturing policy, have created a favorable environment for mobile device manufacturing in Pakistan.
The PTA is responsible for issuing licenses to telecommunications companies, setting technical standards, and enforcing rules and regulations related to telecommunications in Pakistan.