Mobile phones to outnumber people by the end of 2012.

• 10 billion mobile phones connected by 2016 - study
• Wireless internet usage also expected to expand significantly

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MOBILE phones will outnumber humans by the end of 2012, according to a report by US technology company Cisco.

The report - which examines the growth of mobile internet, video, data and smartphones - predicted that there would be more than 10 billion mobile connected devices by 2016 - more than the estimated global population of 7.3 billion.
There were 7 billion mobile-connected devices across the globe in 2011 - accounting for 0.9 devices per capita. That figure will increase to 1.4 devices per capita by the year’s end.
The technology company expects the increase in mobile phone use to come largely from the Middle East and Africa – which are predicted to experience a compound annual growth rate of 104 per cent - along with the Asia Pacific region which is tipped to experience a 84 per cent growth in mobile phone ownership.
Wireless internet usage is expected to expand significantly in the coming years – with traffic multiplying 18 times by 2016, accounting for 130 exabytes of data per year.
This huge increase in internet use is being driven by smartphones and tablets that stream so much music and video that these alone will increase by 95 per cent a year between now and 2016, Cisco says.
The study also examined the rise of the machines - or more specifically machine-to-machine communications (m2m).
M2m technology includes devices like air-conditioning units, smart fridges, telephones and security systems. As consumer demand for devices that can do everything increases, so too will sensor technology that allows singular devices to communicate with other data storage systems to deliver all the information people need onto the one device.
Cisco expects m2m data traffic to increase 22 fold between 2011-2016, representing an 86 per cent annual increase for the next five years.