Mobile phone imports witnessed an increase of 89.03 percent the first month (July) of the fiscal year 2020-21 reaching $148.001 million compared to $78.299 million during the same period last year, says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Telecom experts are linking the phenomenal growth in mobile imports to the implementation of Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS).
Mobile phone imports in June 2020, which stood at $231.303 million, registered 300.62 percent growth as compared to $57.736 million imports in June 2019. However, compared to June 2020 mobile imports witnessed a 36 percent decline in July 2020.
Overall telecom imports saw an increase of 48.81 percent during July 2020 when compared to the same period last year. Total imports were recorded at $176.904 million during this period when compared to $118.877 million in July 2019, while registering a 35.24 percent decline compared to $273.166 million in June 2020.
Other telecom apparatus imports witnessed a decline of over 28.78 percent in July 2020 as it stood at $28.903 million versus $40.582 million during the same period of last year. When compared to June 2020, other telecom apparatus imports registered 30.96 percent negative growth in July as it was $41.864 million in June 2020
