Pakistan’s mobile phone import bill has risen sharply in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, with official data showing that the country imported mobile handsets worth $1.295 billion during the July to February period of fiscal year 2025-26, compared to $999.555 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year, reflecting a growth of over 29.59 percent. In terms of Pakistani rupees, the total value of these imports stood at Rs364.684 billion during the eight-month period under review, against Rs278.162 billion in the corresponding period of last year, translating into a year-on-year growth of 31.10 percent. The figures underline a sustained and growing consumer appetite for mobile devices in Pakistan, even as the broader economic environment continues to exert pressure on import expenditures across multiple sectors.
On a month-on-month basis, however, the import trajectory showed some moderation in February 2026, with mobile phone imports recorded at $155.547 million, reflecting a decline of 13.26 percent compared to $179.336 million in January 2026. Despite this short-term dip, the year-on-year picture for February remained positive, with the month’s import figure representing a 17.95 percent increase over the $131.870 million worth of mobile phones imported in February 2025. The monthly fluctuation is not unusual for the sector, which often sees import volumes vary based on inventory cycles, currency movements, and the timing of new device launches by major international manufacturers.
When viewed against the full fiscal year 2024-25, the current trajectory marks a notable reversal. Pakistan’s mobile phone imports had actually declined during fiscal year 2024-25, standing at $1.494 billion, which represented a fall of 21.31 percent compared to the $1.898 billion recorded in fiscal year 2023-24. In rupee terms, the fiscal year 2024-25 figure of Rs417.351 billion also reflected a decline of 22.09 percent against the Rs535.690 billion imported the year before. Overall telecom imports into Pakistan during fiscal year 2024-25 stood at $2.099 billion, down 11.30 percent from $2.366 billion in fiscal year 2023-24, suggesting that the current fiscal year’s surge in mobile imports is occurring against a backdrop of previously compressed demand now reasserting itself.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s local mobile phone manufacturing and assembly sector continues to scale up meaningfully alongside the import surge. Local manufacturing and assembling plants produced 1.69 million mobile handsets in January 2026 alone, comprising 0.92 million smartphones and 0.77 million 2G phones, compared to just 0.47 million units imported commercially during the same month. For the full calendar year 2025, local plants manufactured and assembled 30.21 million mobile handsets, a figure that stands in stark contrast to the 2.37 million units imported commercially over the same period. According to PTA data, 71 percent of mobile devices currently active on Pakistan’s network are smartphones, while the remaining 29 percent are 2G handsets, a distribution that points to the ongoing but gradual transition of Pakistan’s user base toward more advanced and data-capable devices.
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