New figures released by Eurostat show that mobile phone subscriptions in the 27 EU states increased a staggering 14 times between 1996 and 2005. At the start of the period, the average was seven subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, but just nine years later it had increased to 96 for each 100. With 158 and 127 respectively, Luxembourg and Lithuania were top of the list, with Romania the lowest, having just 62 mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. The most interesting figures, though, show countries where people used mobile access but had no landline. There was a great divide between Western Europe and the newer EU member states to the east. Although Swedish registered non one with just a mobile and no landline, the percentage was 42% just using mobiles in the Czech Republic, 40% in Latvia, and 36% in Estonia, 48% in Lithuania and 38% in Slovakia. Throughout the EU members in 2006, 18% had mobile access but no landlines. The overall percentage of landlines rose during the nine-year period from 43 per 100 inhabitants to 48, with the highest numbers occurring in Western Europe.
