With the global ICT market still showing unabated growth, the number of global mobile subscriptions is expected to reach 4.6 billion by end of 2009, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said.

At the same time, mobile broadband subscriptions will also top 600 million in 2009, having overtaken fixed broadband subscribers in 2008, the UN-affiliated agency said.

The ITU noted that as of 2009, more than a quarter of the world’s population is online and using the Internet. Ever-increasing numbers are opting for high-speed Internet access, with fixed broadband subscriber numbers more than tripling from 150 million in 2004 to an estimated 500 million by the end of 2009, it said.

The rapid high-speed Internet growth in the developed world, however, contrasts starkly with the state of play in the developing world.

In Africa, for example, there is only one fixed broadband subscriber for every 1,000 inhabitants, compared with Europe where there are some 200 subscribers per 1,000 people. The relative price for ICT services (especially broadband) is highest in Africa, the region with the lowest income levels.

The report found that China has the world’s largest fixed broadband market, overtaking its closest rival, the US, at the end of 2008.

ITU said its research showed that three quarters of households now own a television set and over a quarter of people globally – some 1.9 billion – now have access to a computer at home.