Most South Koreans use cell phones on a daily basis, giving the country one of the highest subscriptions rates in the Asia-Pacific region, a report released by a global telecommunications agency said Friday.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the number of mobile phone subscribers in South Korea reached 43.5 million in 2007, indicating that 90.2 individuals out of every 100 have access to mobile phone service.

South Korea’s mobile subscription rate was the eighth largest in the Asia Pacific region, according to the ITU report.

The number of subscribers per 100 people rose by 22 from five years ago, when there were just 68.4 users.

The area with the highest penetration rate of mobile phone service in the Asia Pacific region was Macau, which has 165.1 subscribers for every 100 residents. The high numbers translate into one person owning more than one cellular phone.

Macau was trailed by Hong Kong, which had 149.2 subscribers per 100 people, while numbers for Singapore and Thailand stood at 133.5 and 123.8, respectively.

The report said that in countries with more than 100 subscribers per every 100 people the use of prepaid phone systems was popular.

Myanmar and the Marshall Islands had the lowest subscription rate with 0.6 and 1.4 subscribers, respectively, out of every 100 people. The low figures are due to the fact that relatively few people in these regions own mobile phones.

YonhapNewsAgency

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