Five billion mobile phones in use worldwide

An Ericsson spokeswoman told AFP the study's term "subscriptions" included both billed contracts with providers and the 'pay-as-you-go' formula, popular in emerging markets.
Since one person can have more than one mobile phone subscription, the 5.0 billion mark does not necessarily mean five billion people own a mobile phone.
According to the United Nations, the world's population is around 6.8 billion people.
Ericsson added mobile broadband subscriptions are growing at a similar pace and are expected to reach 3.4 billion by 2015, up from 360 million last year.
The mobile giant predicts 80 percent of all people accessing the Internet will soon do so via a mobile phone.