According to a new report by Infonetics Research, the number of mobile broadband subscribers worldwide jumped nearly 50% in 2011 to 846 million. The research house expects that number to reach 2.6 billion by 2016, driven by Brazil, Russia, India, China and others in the developing world.Other findings:

• Total mobile subscribers are forecast to pass the 6 billion mark in 2012 and to approach 7 billion by 2016.



• In some countries, the number of mobile subscribers already surpasses the population, such as in Finland, where many people have both personal and work phones.



• Infonetics expects more than 200 million traditional wired voice access lines to be dropped over the next 5 years.



• The number of LTE subscribers is forecast to approach 450 million by 2016.



• WiMAX subscriber numbers are expected to grow at a 35% compound annual growth rate through 2016, when they're expected to top 132 million.