April 01, 2024 (MLN): The local mobile assembly and manufacturers have jointly produced 6.1 million mobile phones during the first two months of the ongoing fiscal year (January-February 2024), recent data published by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) showed.
During this period, the commercial imports of mobile phones made by the country were just a marginal 0.3m units.
A breakup of the data provides further details that out of the total 6.1m devices produced, 3.35m were smartphones while the remaining 2.78m were 2G devices.
Brandwise, Infinix took the lead in production by manufacturing 0.85m units in Jan-Feb 2024. The top rank for the brand follows from 2023, during which it produced 2.73 million devices.
The second and third rank was held by VGO TEL and Itel with an output of 0.82m and 0.77m during the review period.
It is crucial to note that production has been on a declining trend since 2022 due to economic depression in the country and rising interest rates which acted as a constraint for the local industry.
In 2021, PTA reported that 24.66m devices were manufactured, and in 2023 the figure dropped to 21.28m units, around 13.71% lower.
However, a greater drop was noticed in the commercial import section, reducing from 24.51m in 2020 to just 1.58m in 2023.
This decline is attributed to the import restrictions imposed by the central bank to curb the gap between export and import and reduce the outflow of foreign currency.
With the expanding reach of internet services, the threshold of smartphone devices on the Pakistan network has increased to 60%, compared to 59% in 2023 and 56% in 2022.
Conversely, the use of 2G devices on the local network has reduced to 40%, in contrast to 41% in 2023 and 44% in 2022.
