According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, local manufacturing plants produced/assembled 12.41 million phones in the first five months of 2022 (January-May), compared to 0.94 million imported commercially (PTA).
In May, local producers produced or assembled 2.69 million mobile phone devices. The number of manufactured/assembled mobile phone handsets reached 24.66 million in 2021, up from 13.05 million in 2020, representing an 88 percent increase.
According to official data from the PTA, commercial imports of mobile phone handsets were 10.26 million in 2021, down from 24.51 million in 2020. 6.99 million 2G handsets and 5.42 million smartphones are among the 12.41 million locally manufactured/assembled mobile phone handsets. According to the report, 53 percent of mobile devices on the Pakistan network are smartphones, while 47 percent are 2G.
Despite an increase in local mobile phone production, Pakistan imported $1.946 billion in mobile phones in the first eleven months of 2021-22, compared to $1.860 billion in the same period last year, registering a 4.62 percent increase despite the increase in local manufacturing, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
According to PBS data, mobile phone imports into Pakistan declined by 35.54 percent month over month in May 2022, remaining at $137.213 million, compared to $212.881 million imported in April 2022.
Mobile phones saw a negative rise of 21.82 percent year over year, from $175.501 million in May 2021 to $175.501 million in May 2022.