More than 415 million broadband accounts will be active by the end of the year, according to estimates published by Strategy Analytics today. The market research expects this number to grow to 612 million by 2012.

Worldwide, broadband service revenues will increase from $130 billion in 2008 to $190 billion in 2012, with Europe, Asia Pacific and North America leading the way, Strategy Analytics said.

DSL remains the dominant broadband access technology, accounting for about two thirds of all broadband connections. However, the market research firm believes that "Fiber and WiMax will increasingly displace traditional broadband access technologies, such as DSL and Cable." There is a particular expectation that WiMax will take off, from about 4.8 million subscriptions in 2008 to 23 million by 2012.