The number of mobile broadband subscribers jumped nearly 50 per cent in 2011, to a grand total of 846m, according to the Total Fixed and Mobile Subscribers Pivot report from Infonetics Research.

“We expect that number to reach 2.6bn by 2016, driven by Brazil, Russia, India, China and others in the developing world,” says Stéphane Téral, Infonetics Researchs principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics. “We anticipate Asia Pacific to account for over half of the worlds mobile broadband subscribers by 2016, while Latin America will see the fastest growth.”

The total number of mobile subscribers, meanwhile, is forecast to pass the 6bn mark in 2012, and to approach 7bn by 2016, with 450m of those being LTE subscribers. According to Infonetics, more than 200m landlines will get dropped over the next five years. The worlds top mobile operators, by number of subscribers, are China Mobile, Vodafone, and América Móvil.

And one final eyebrow-raising statistic – there are countries, including Finland, where the number of mobile subscribers already surpasses the total population.