According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, local manufacturing facilities produced/assembled 14.94 million mobile phone handsets during the first seven months (January-July) of 2022 as opposed to 1.16 million ones that were commercially imported (PTA).
In July 2022, local factories produced or assembled 0.86 million phones. In comparison to the 13.05 million produced or assembled in 2020, this amount was 24.66 million in 2021, an increase of 88 percent.
According to the PTA’s official figures, commercial imports of mobile phone handsets decreased to 10.26 million in 2021 from 24.51 million in 2020.
The locally manufactured/assembled 14.94 million mobile phones handsets include 8.6 million 2G and 6.33 million smartphones. The PTA data showed that 54 percent of mobile devices are smartphones and 46 percent are 2G on the Pakistan network.
Despite the increase in the local production of mobile phones, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $38.804 million in July 2022, which registered a growth of 20.43 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis when compared to $32.221 million in June 2022, as noted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). According to its monthly data, mobile phone imports registered a negative growth of $67.46 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis compared to $119.237 million in July 2021.
The successful implementation of the Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS), along with conducive government policies, including the mobile manufacturing policy, has created a favorable environment for mobile device manufacturing in Pakistan.
It has also contributed positively to Pakistan’s mobile ecosystem by eliminating the counterfeit device market and providing a level-playing field for commercial entities. In doing so, it has created trust among consumers due to the formulation of standardized legal channels for all sorts of device imports.
