Mobiles 'to exceed people globally by 2012'

Mike Short made his claim as he took over as president of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Europe's largest professional body of engineers.

With the current global population around seven billion, Short says the combination of mobiles with internet will mean the uptake of such devices will pass the seven billion mark during the course of next year.

"First, taking subscriptions and devices into account in the UK today, some people have more than one device," he told Sky News Online.

"They may have a mobile for home and one for work.

"Secondly, regular travellers to different countries may have a mobile that, for call-cost reasons, they keep just for use in a particular country.

"Then, thirdly, we've seen the rise in more and more machines being connected and that is where the growth will continue to be - smart meteres for monitoring flood levels, for instance, or environmental sensors for monitoring climate changes."

He also predicts China and India will each have more than one billion mobile subscriptions within the first half of 2012.

"Right now there are more mobile phones than toothbrushes," Short points out. 

"Unlike toothbrushes, mobile phones and devices are wonderfully inclusive and with access to the internet they are empowering for billions of people – especially those in emerging nations who will access the internet for the first time through mobile.