Mobile phone popularity in Asia remains unmatched around the globe. Case in point, today a report came out with news that nine out of 10 people in the country owned a mobile phone as of last year.

There were 45.6 million mobile phone subscribers in South Korea in December. South Korea’s total population is only 48.6 million! That’s more than 93%, a slight rise in rates from six months ago. While some people have more than one subscription, the figures indicate one of the highest cell phone saturation rates in the world.

The number is expected to rise further in the coming year, despite the economic downturn, according to Sung Suk-ham of the Korea Communications Commission. In addition to an average of 2.75 mobile phones per household, more than 15.4 million South Koreans – just under a third of the population – have high-speed internet, the commission said.

South Korea is home to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, the world’s number 2 and number 4 manufacturers of mobile phones.