ISLAMABAD: Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $1.810 billion during the first 10 months (July-April) of 2021-22 compared to $1.684 billion during the same period last year, registering a growth of 7.43 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-April) 2021-22 increased by 14.05 percent going up from $2.116 billion in July-April 2020-21 to $2.413 billion during the same period of last period.
On a month-on-month basis, imports of mobile phones into Pakistan increased by 43.56 per cent during April 2022 and remained $213.895 million when compared to $183.894 million imported in March 2022, the PBS data revealed.
On a year-on-year basis, mobile phones witnessed a 16.31 per cent growth when compared to $148.992 million in April 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the overall telecom imports into the country increased by 3.35 percent during April 2022 and remained $276.664 million, when compared to the imports of $267.705 million in March 2022.
On year-on-year basis, overall telecom imports witnessed 43.25 per cent growth when compared to $193.137 million in April 2021. Other apparatus imports during July-April 2021-22 increased by 39.87 per cent and remained $603.548 million compared to $431.514 million in July-April 2020-21.
Other apparatus imports registered 25.11 per cent negative growth on month-on-month basis and remained $62.769 million in April 2022 compared to $83.811 million in March 2022 and registered 42.19 per cent growth when compared to $44.145 million in April 2022.
The local manufacturing plants produced 7.16 million phones handsets during the first three months of 2022 against 0.61 million commercially imported units, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
July-Mar mobile phone imports soar 3.93pc to $1.596bn YoY
Around 3.52 million mobile phones handsets were manufactured in March against the commercial imports of 0.15 million handsets. The locally manufactured 7.16 million mobile phones handsets included 4.33 million 2G and 2.83 million 3G and 4G smartphones. The PTA data also revealed that 53 per cent of the handsets are smartphones and 47 percent are 2G handsets.
However, despite the increase in the local production of mobile phones, mobile phones worth $1.810 billion during the first ten months (July-April) of 2021-22 compared to $1.684 billion during the same period of last year, registering a growth of 7.43 percent, despite the increase in local manufacturing.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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