The number of mobile phone users will overtake the number of people who don't have a cellphone this year for the first time, according to the United Nations telecoms agency.

Ownership rates in developing countries are rising fastest, with Brazil, Russia, India and China alone accounting for one billion subscribers last year, the International Telecommunication Union said.

In 2000, only 12 per cent of the global population had a mobile phone.

"At current growth rates, global mobile penetration is expected to reach 50 per cent by early 2008," according to ITU's January newsletter.

This would amount to more than 3.3 billion subscriptions worldwide.

ITU said the figures, gathered from mobile service providers, did not take into account people who have more than one phone and that some operators might inflate their subscriber numbers.

"On the other hand, some subscribers, particularly in developing countries, share their mobile phone with others, thus spreading its benefits," the agency said.

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association says 60 per cent of Canadians have a mobile phone.

According to the most recent figures from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada ranks second-last in the developed world in terms of the percentage of the national population with a cellphone.

The OECD's latest statistics show that in 2005, Canada had 51 cellphone subscribers for every 100 inhabitants, placing it second-last out of 30 member countries.