The postman may find his postbag considerably lighter this Valentines Day as lovers everywhere reach for their mobiles to say it with a text.

This year more people than ever will text their loved ones on 14 February, says mobile phone firm Virgin Mobile.

Last year saw 50 million texts sent on Valentine's Day in the UK and Virgin Mobile expects this to soar to 80 million this year.

Texting is the new foreplay, says the director of the UK Flirting Academy Peta Heskell.

"It's a great way to fire up the juices for steamy sex later and a healthy way of keeping the spark alive in any relationship.

"Unlike office e-mail it's a completely uncensored means of flirting between two individuals and is totally personal," she said.

Adult content

Virgin Mobile is keen to exploit the steamier aspects of the mobile industry and has recently appointed a head of adult services, Nick White, to develop adult content.

In the pipeline is a Flirt Alert dating service, allowing users to anonymously flirt with up to five people at one time.

Mr White is in no doubt that text messaging is the way forward for lovers.

"Flirty texts are set to put the final nail in the coffin of traditional Valentine's cards. Mobile users want an instant interactive response to their declaration of love, which cards simply cannot deliver," he said.

UK mobile operators will be hoping to avoid the fiasco facing Thai mobile operator AIS last year.

Thailand's biggest mobile operator's network crashed on Valentine's Day as lovers across the country flocked to send text messages to each other.