According to a recent report from the European Commission, mobile phones in use outnumber the population of the EU for the first time. There are 478.4 million phones in use right now and penetration is about 103 percent throughout Europe. In 2005 penetration was at 95 percent. Luxembourg has the highest penetration rate (171 percent) followed by Italy (134 percent) and Lithuania (133 percent). France (82 percent), Malta (83 percent) and Slovakia (86 percent) had the lowest penetration rates in the Union. Article [1]