Telecom, other apparatus imports witness decline in seven months

February 19, 2019 (MLN): The first seven months of on-going fiscal year have witnessed 7.11 per cent decline in mobile phones import and reached $423.818 million mark as compared to $456.254 million during same period last year.

Mobile phone imports stood at $59.77 million in January 2019, registering a 25.06 percent decline as compared to $79.759 million imports in January 2018.

Last month’s figure was higher by 0.63 percent when compared to $59.396 million in December 2018, a data issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed.

Overall telecom imports saw a decline of 10.58 per cent during July-January (2018-19) when compared to same period last year.

Total imports were recorded at US$ 783.45 million during this period when compared to $876.124 million in July-January (2017-18) while registering a 4.35 per cent decline in January 2019. This figure stood at $127.524 million in January 2019 as compared to $110.006 million during December 2018.

Other telecom apparatus imports also witnessed a decline of over 14.35 per cent in July-January (2018-19), standing at $359.632 million against $419.87 million during same period last year.

When compared to December 2018, other telecom apparatus imports registered a 26.49 per cent growth in January – was $67.753 million as compared to $50.610 million in December 2018.

However, according to market sources, mobile phones worth millions of dollars are being smuggled to the country which results in huge loss to the national exchequer.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has estimated to increase revenue from import of mobile devices by around US$ 200 million annually after Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) implementation.

The DIRBS implementation is expected to generate additional revenue, besides helping in reducing security challenges.

The System will contribute towards improving law and order within the country  also improve quality of  service of cellular mobile operators as well as discourage the counterfeit devices, fake IMEIs and duplicate IMEIs on mobile network.

(APP)