Pakistan’s Mobile Phone Imports Increased 110% in 2019: Report

Successful implementation of the new mobile phone registration system by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has resulted in a significant increase in the commercial import of mobile phones.

According to statistics from the media, the commercial import of mobile phones has increased by 110 percent in one year. In 2018, 9,564,424 mobile phones were imported, whereas, in 2019, the number stands at 19,834,465 mobiles.

The documents say that a substantial decrease in illegal imports and the smuggling of mobile phones were recorded.

At the local level, the production of mobile devices has been recorded with an increase of 72 percent. Since the introduction of the mobile phone registration, custom duties of more than Rs. 1.27 billion have been collected.

The government has been taking steps to increase domestic manufacturing of mobile phone devices as well.

PTA has blocked millions of devices with unregistered International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers. The new system has helped the government generate revenue from the legal import of cellular phones.