LAHORE - The country has imported telecom products of over Rs34 billion during July-Sept 2012-13, including mobile phones of around Rs15.77 billion, showing an increase of Rs1.59 billion compare to the corresponding period of last year.
The nation imported telecom products of over Rs18.54 billion, up by Rs6.51 billion from import of same period of last fiscal year.
Federal Bureau of Statistics latest figures revealed that overall telecom sector import touched the figure of Rs34 billion in past three months, up by Rs8 billion as compare to the import of last year’s same three months.
As per data, import of mobile phone in the country has registered increase of 13.79 per cent during the month of August, as compared to the previous month of July, 2011.
The import of the commodity in the country stood at $56.04 million during August 2011 whereas its import in July, 2011 was recorded at $49.25 million during, Federal Board of Statistics (FBS) reported.
The import of mobile phone witnessed the increase of 50.58 percent during July-August 2011-12 over the same period of last year. The country imported the commodity worth $105.31 million during the period under review while the commodity worth $69.93 million imported during the same period of last year.
This increase has happened due to the growth in subscriber base of Pakistan which has witnessed above 46 per cent growth during last few years. At the world level only Thailand, Belarus and Serbia have higher telecom growths than Pakistan.
The telecommunication imports during the first month of the ongoing fiscal year (2012-13) increased by 12.98 per cent and 16.24 per cent as compare to the imports of July 2011 and June 2012 respectively. The overall telecommunication imports during July 2012 were recorded at $112.378 million against the imports of $99.470 million in July 2011 and $96.680 million in June 2012, according to the figures of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Among the telecommunication products, the imports of mobile phones increased by 6.90 per cent in July 2012 as compare to the imports of the same month of last year.
Mobile imports during July 2012 were recorded at $52.661 million against the imports of $49.261 million during July 2011, the PBS data revealed. However, as compared to the imports of $56.176 million recorded during June 2012, the mobile imports during July 2012 witnessed decrease of 6.26 per cent.
The imports of other telecommunication apparatus during July 2012 increased by 18.94 per cent and 47.43 per cent when compare to the imports of July 2011 and June 2012, according to the data. The imports of other telecommunication apparatus stood at $59.717 million in July against the imports of $50.209 million in July 2011 and $40.504 million in June 2012. It is pertinent to mention here that the overall imports in July, 2012 were recorded at $3,662 million as compare to $3,979 million in June 2012, showing a decrease of 7.97pc and 0.73pc as compared to $3,689 million in July, 2011. Main commodities of imports during July, 2012 were petroleum products (Rs 93,245 million), petroleum crude (Rs 34,285 million), palm oil (Rs 19,917 million), power generating machinery (Rs 9,461 million), plastic materials (Rs 9,313 million), iron & steel (Rs 8,150 million), raw cotton (Rs 6,624 million), iron and steel scrap (Rs 5,796 million), other apparatus (Telecom) (Rs 5,636 million) and electrical machinery & apparatus Rs 5,507 million.