Market research firm Infonetics Research (News - Alert) has published its fourth-quarter 2G/3G and LTE (News - Alert) Mobile Broadband Devices and Subscribers report.

The report tracks W-CDMA/HSPA, CDMA2000/EV-DO, TD-SCDMA, and LTE mobile broadband cards, and finds that while "the effects of the recession continue to linger, with fewer than usual USB dongles and netbooks delivered at the end of 2009."

Richard Webb, Infonetics Research's directing analyst for mobile devices, notes that as far as mobile broadband goes, "the normally seasonally-strong fourth quarter is softer than expected for the mobile broadband device market."

The news wasn't all good: Mobile router sales suffered heavily from the impact of the economic recession in 2009, with revenue down 28 percent from the previous year. Growth is expected to return in 2010 and beyond, as more mobile operators offer them through their channels.

Webb isn't greatly troubled, however. "Fundamental drivers remain strong and the market will continue to gather momentum, driven by HSPA, and we expect to see fewer growth blips in the future."

While the mobile broadband card market, including standard and embedded cards, was soft overall in 4Q09, sales are up 55 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, at $6.4 billion worldwide, driven in large part by increasing adoption of High Speed Packet Access, the Infonetics report found:

"The number of mobile broadband subscribers surpassed DSL subscribers for the first time in 2009, and is forecast by Infonetics Research to grow to 1.5 billion worldwide in 2014."

Mobile broadband PC cards, including USB modems (dongles), accounted for 74 percent of total mobile broadband card revenue in 2009, the report found, and embedded mobile broadband cards on PCs, netbooks and mobile Internet devices made up 26 percent.

LTE-based mobile broadband embedded PC card sales look to do well, as they're forecast to top $3 billion in 2014.