It may come as a surprise to some, but the number of mobile handsets in the world today now amount to half of the world's population. This is according to a new report by Reuters.

The amount of mobile handsets currently in use has grown exponentially in the last few years largely because of booming sales and production in the Asian region.

China and South Korea are the two biggest producers of mobile handsets in Asia with firms such as Samsung and ZTE going all out with innovative and affordable models to entice the public.

Industry experts agree that the mobile communications sector has come a long way since the Nordic Mobile Telephony company opened its networks in Saudi Arabia, Norway and Sweden in 1981.

Informa head of research Mark Newman comments "the mobile industry has constantly outperformed even the most optimistic forecasts for subscriber growth."

It's important to note, however, that 3.3 billion mobile phones doesn't equate to 3.3 billion people having handsets. In 59 countries, the average mobile phone user usually has more than one unit.