Cellphone subscriptions around the world are expected to reach 4.6 billion this year and will likely continue to grow rapidly, says a United Nations report.

According to the International Telecommunications Union, a UN agency, the cellphone market continues to expand unabated, with subscriptions for mobile broadband services topping 600 million in 2009, outstripping fixed broadband by 100 million.

In Canada, there were just under 18.8 million cellphones in use, putting Canada at 38th in the world, behind such countries as Morocco, Poland and Australia, according to 2006 figures.

The ITU, a UN agency overseeing information and communication technology, released its report this week entitled The World in 2009: ICT facts and figures.

"Information and communications technology is vital within developing countries to ensure that ordinary people can fully participate in the knowledge economy of the 21st century," ITU secretary general Hamadoun Touré, said in a statement.

"We have seen a positive impact on services such as health and education in markets where technology growth has been strong," said Touré.

However, despite major inroads in cellphone use in developing countries, ITU highlighted significant regional discrepancies with cellphone penetration rates.

"There is still a large digital divide, and an impending broadband divide, which needs to be addressed urgently," warned Sami Al Basheer, director of ITU’s telecommunication development bureau.