BRUSSELS, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Mobile phone subscriptions in the European Union (EU) for the first time outnumbered the whole population last year, the European Commission said in a report on Thursday.

    "With 478.4 million mobile phones in use, penetration in Europe is now at 103 percent of population," the Commission said in its 12th annual report on the EU's telecom markets.

    The penetration rate was 95 percent in 2005.

    But the level of penetration varies widely among its previous 25 member states. Luxembourg recorded the highest penetration of 171 percent, followed by Italy's 134 percent and Lithuania's 133 percent. It was lowest in France, standing at 82 percent.

    With the subscription climbing, the communications cost is falling. According to the report, prices for a three-minute national fixed telephone call have gone down from around 0.418 euro in 2000 to 0.25 euro today. The prices of domestic mobile services have decreased by up to 13.9 percent in the past year.

    The report also showed that more than 20 million additional broadband subscriptions were taken up in 2006, bringing penetration in the EU to 15.7 percent.

    The Netherlands and Denmark, with penetration of 29.8 percent and 29.4 percent respectively, now have the highest broadband penetration rates in the world topping South Korea while seven member states have higher broadband penetration rates than the United States.