Daily Times

KARACHI: Complex procedure to get an approval or no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for imported mobile phones has suppressed Chinese-made handsets’ import by 40%.

China was the favorite destination of mobile phone importers during last decade, however implementation of new complicated guidelines by the PTA for import of Chinese mobile phones is no longer a top priority for importers as the import of cellular phones dropped by 40% to 6.96 million handsets in Fiscal Year 2104-15 (FY15) as against 11.54 million handsets imported in FY14 from China by the Pakistani importers.

However, the import bill of Chinese mobile phones remained higher as growing smart phone adoption in Pakistan, due to expanding 3G and 4G networks, maintained the balance with total value of imported Chinese cellular phones at Rs 61.99 billion in previous fiscal year.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS’s) latest figures, Pakistani importers had shifted their interest towards United Arab Emirates (UAE) in FY15 as import of mobile handsets from UAE went enormously up in the said period. “Import from Dubai increased to 435,624 cellular phones in FY15 while it was only 35,802 in FY14.Similarly, Vietnam grabbed importers’ attention much as the country became epic choice of Pakistani importers in FY15 where total 307,135 sets were imported by the importers as against import of only 28 sets in FY14.

Meanwhile, according to breakup, 3,452 mobile phones were imported from Singapore, 3,405 from Norway, 1,620 from South Korea and 1,234 from Hong Kong during the last fiscal year. From UAE and Korea, 224 satellite mobile phones were also imported during FY15

Experts say that substandard quality of Chinese smart phones dampened the import of Chinese made handsets in Pakistan as consumer reliance on Samsung and other brands have been increased due to better quality products.

Industry sources believe that decline in mobile phone imports form China happened to be much disaster for national kitty as increased Sales Tax on import of mobile and complex procedures to get an NOC from PTA have pushed grey imports significantly up apart form legal imports’ figures where millions of used and refurbished sets are being imported in Pakistan annually from Dubai and other European countries on which government is not earning a single penny.

Sources said that the grey import of mobile handsets remains the biggest challenge for the custom authorities as when the government tightens legal import policy then illegal import goes on rise.

In 2014, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on the directives of the Supreme Court (SC) introduced new import guidelines to help check the illegal import of mobile phones and their usage in terror-related activities.