Telecom Sector Growth.

In the annual report published by the PTA, it has been reported that the telecom sector achieved a record high revenue of Rs 694 billion in the financial year 2021-22 as the use of telecom services grew substantially. While there is little positive news on the economic front currently, it is encouraging to see how the sector attracted an investment of $ 2.07 billion and contributed Rs 325.2 billion to the national exchequer, including Rs 222.7 billion in taxes. The latest report outlines a variety of encouraging trends that only point towards the immense potential of this sector. Despite the year being marked by rising inflationary pressures and profitability concerns, the telecom sector performed considerably well. One noticeable achievement is that for the first time in the country's history, the import volume of mobile handsets registered a decline as most of the demand was met through locally manufactured products. Pakistan produced a record 41.35 million mobile handsets, however, the number of smartphones was at half of last year's volume as only 17.3 million smartphones were assembled from January to September 2022. Of course, this has also come about because of the exorbitant taxes imposed by the PTA on foreign handsets, but this is still...