Telecom

Pakistan’s Mobile Imports Surge 53% in First 4 Months of FY 25-26

Pakistan’s mobile phone imports increased sharply during the first four months (July–October) of the fiscal year 2025-26. The country imported mobile phones worth $644.604 million, compared to $420.807 million during the same period last year. This reflects a strong 53.18% year-on-year increase.

Official data also shows a rise in rupee terms. The total value of mobile phone imports reached Rs. 182.126 billion during July–October 2025. This is 55.64% higher than the Rs. 117.020 billion recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

However, the monthly figures tell a different story. Pakistan’s mobile phone imports fell 27.44% month-on-month in October 2025. Imports declined to $144.593 million, down from $199.270 million in September 2025.

Year-on-year numbers also showed a drop. Mobile phone imports in October 2025 registered a 17.06% decline compared to $174.341 million in October 2024.

Pakistan imported $1.494 billion worth of mobile phones in the last fiscal year, 2024-25. This marks a 21.31% decrease compared to $1.898 billion in 2023-24.

In local currency, the total value of mobile phone imports for the fiscal year 2024-25 was Rs. 417.351 billion. This shows a 22.09% decline from Rs. 535.690 billion recorded in 2023-24.

Overall telecom imports also slowed down. Pakistan’s total telecom imports reached $2.099 billion in 2024-25, down 11.30% from $2.366 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Local mobile phone production continued to grow. Pakistan’s manufacturing and assembling plants produced 22.78 million mobile handsets during the first nine months (January–September) of 2025. During the same period, only 1.5 million mobile phones were imported commercially.

In September 2025 alone, local plants manufactured 3.01 million handsets.

Out of the total 22.78 million units, 11.92 million were smartphones, while 10.86 million were 2G feature phones.

PTA data also highlights the device mix on local networks. Currently, 70% of mobile devices in Pakistan are smartphones, while 30% remain 2G phones.