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London (pte033/26.01.2005/14:45) - Britain has more mobile phones than people, according to new statistics. As the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk reports, figures from the Mobile Data Association showed that at least 60 million mobiles are in use in the United Kingdom. Although eight out of ten adults own a mobile phone, many of them possess more than one handset.
Seven years ago, there were only 9 million people that subscribed to mobile phones. The latest quarterly report from the British watchdog Ofcom http://www.ofcom.org.uk in October showed there were 55 million people. According to the association, at least 5 million handsets have been purchased sice then, which takes the total number of mobile phones beyond the UK population of 59.6 million. According to Ofcom, 79 per cent of adults are mobile phone owners, a rise of 73 per cent from 12 months ago.
Although there are many fears over long-term health risks, the number of younger mobile phone users is around 4.5 million, with 90 per cent of secondary school children and up to one in four children under the age of ten having their own phone. "Mobile communications continue to bring tremendous social and economic benefits to the UK economy," said a spokesman for the Mobile Operators Association, which represents the five main networks. Other countries that have more mobiles than people are Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Italy and Luxembourg.
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