According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, local manufacturing plants produced/assembled 18.14 million phone handsets from January to October 2022, compared to 1.29 million commercially imported phone handsets (PTA).
In October 2022, local manufacturing plants produced/assembled 1.44 million mobile phone handsets. Local manufacturing plants produced 24.66 million mobile phone handsets in calendar year 2021, up from 13.05 million in 2020, representing an 88 percent increase.
According to PTA data, commercial imports of mobile phone handsets stood at 10.26 million in 2021, up from 24.51 million in 2020. The 18.14 million mobile phone handsets produced locally included 10.51 million 2G and 7.63 million smartphones.
Furthermore, according to PTA data, 55 percent of mobile devices in Pakistan are smartphones, and 45 percent are 2G.
Despite an increase in local production, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $226.051 million during the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year 2022-23, a negative growth of 64.94 percent compared to $644.672 million during the same period last year.
According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), mobile phone imports increased 12.62 percent month on month (MoM) and stood at $65.780 million in October 2022, up from $58.407 million in September 2022.
The successful implementation of the Device Identification, Registration, and Blocking System (DIRBS), as well as supportive government policies, such as the mobile manufacturing policy, has created a favorable environment for mobile device manufacturing in Pakistan.
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