More cell phone subscriptions than inhabitants in Sweden

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - The number of Swedish cell phone subscriptions has surpassed the number of inhabitants in the Scandinavian country.

Having ballooned by 10 percent over the past year, the number of Swedish mobile phone subscriptions reached 9.07 million by the end of March, Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reported on Friday, quoting statistics from industry newsletter Telekommarknaden.

In a country that is home to only 8.98 million people, the cell phone subscription penetration rate is thus 100.1 percent.

That rate is expected to continue to swell, with Telekommarknaden predicting that the number of cell phone subscriptions in the country would hit 9.6 million by the end of the year.

The higher number of subscriptions than inhabitants in Sweden is largely due to the fact that many Swedes have one cell phone for personal use and one for work, according to the newsletter.

In light of the latest statistics, Sweden has the highest mobile telephony penetration of all the Nordic countries, followed by Norway, then Finland and finally Denmark.

The number of fixed-lines in Sweden meanwhile slipped by two percent in 2003 compared to the 2002 numbers to 5.4 million, according to statistics from the Swedish National Post and Telecom Agency, PTS