WebProNews

The United States has surpassed the UK in mobile Web browsing, now accounting for 29 percent of the global traffic, according to the mobile firm Bango.

The company says the good news for content providers is that the growth in traffic is being matched by the growth in users paying for content on the mobile Web.

"With 245 million subscribers, it was only a matter of time before the US became the number 1 country in the world for mobile web browsing," said Anil Malhotra, SVP of Marketing at Bango.

"When it comes to payments though, the US is accelerating faster than any other country and now accounts for 57% of payments worldwide."

Bango says the publicity behind the Apple iPhone has influenced more people to browse the mobile Web in countries such as the U.S. and the UK. Some businesses have been taken by surprise by mobile browsing as they lack mobile Web sites.

"Many people simply have no idea that they have visitors from mobile devices accessing their PC website- these mobile visitors are simply invisible to them," said Malhortra. "Part of the problem is lack of awareness."

The February statistics identified mobile Web browsers from a total of 208 different countries using 1,811 different handsets.