In a remarkable development, local manufacturing plants in Pakistan have achieved significant milestones in mobile phone production, outpacing imported devices. According to official data, during the first four months (January-April) of 2023, a total of 3.44 million mobile handsets were manufactured/assembled locally, compared to only 0.3 million imported commercially.
Further analysis of the data reveals that in April 2023 alone, local manufacturing plants produced 0.63 million mobile handsets, while commercially imported devices amounted to only 0.03 million. This indicates a growing trend of reliance on domestic production capabilities.
However, it is worth noting that the overall local production of mobile handsets witnessed a decline in the calendar year 2022, with 21.94 million devices assembled compared to 24.66 million in 2021. This decline can be attributed to challenges in imports caused by restrictions on opening letters of credit (LCs).
Out of the total mobile handsets assembled locally in 2022, 2.79 million were 2G devices, while 0.65 million were smartphones, as reported by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). The PTA data also highlights that 56 percent of the mobile devices in Pakistan are smartphones, while 44 percent are 2G devices.
On the import front, Pakistan witnessed a significant decline in mobile phone imports during the first 10 months (July-April) of the fiscal year 2022-23. Imports amounted to $473.287 million, marking a substantial 73.84 percent negative growth compared to $1.809 billion in the same period of the previous year.
In April 2023, mobile phone imports further declined by 28.69 percent on a month-on-month basis, with imports totaling $10.587 million, as per data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Moreover, on a year-on-year basis, mobile phone imports recorded a staggering 95.03 percent negative growth in April 2023, plummeting from $212.881 million in April 2022.
The surge in local manufacturing and decline in imports signify the growing self-reliance of Pakistan’s mobile phone industry. With an increasing emphasis on domestic production, the country aims to bolster its economic growth, reduce reliance on imports, and foster technological advancement in the mobile phone sector.
