Rory Cellan-Jones, the corporation's business correspondent, said the 3G USB dongle has allowed the technology to take off this year.

He also stated that mobile networks have noted its potential and started promoting mobile broadband more heavily.

"The mobile networks suddenly discovered a whole new market and a way to use all that 3G capacity they had spent billions building," he commented.

Mr Cellan-Jones added that using dongles plugged into routers is a good alternative to using a fixed broadband line in the home.

However, he conceded that coverage could occasionally be patchy, while connection speeds are also variable.

This comes after Niall Murphy of wireless broadband provider The Cloud suggested that people now expect "to ubiquitously access" the internet wherever they may be.