Mobile phone import reaches $478 million in eight months

March 19, 2019: The first eight months of current fiscal year has witnessed mobile phone import of $478.14 million in the country, showing 9.11 per cent decline as compared to same period last year.

During same period (July-Feb 2017-18) the mobile phone import was $526.03 million, these figures were revealed in data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

As per details, mobile phone imports in February 2019 which stood at $54.320 million, registered a 22.15 per cent decline as compared to $69.779 million imports in February 2018.

The last month's figure was - 9.12 percent when compared to $59.771 million in January 2019.

Overall telecom imports saw a decline of 9.91 per cent during July-February (2018-19) when compared to same period of last year.

Total imports were recorded at $904.016 million during this period when compared to $1 billion in July-February (2017-18).

This figure stood at $120.565 million in February 2019 as compared to $127.524 million during January 2019.

Other telecom apparatus imports witnessed a phenomenal decline of over 10.81 per cent in July-February (2018-19) as it stood at $425.879 million against $477.5 million during same period of last year.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) expects increased revenue from import of mobile devices annually after Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) implementation.

(APP)