KOREA - Internet usage through mobile devices rapidly rises between 7 p.m. in the evening and midnight, a study found on Friday.

According to Daum Communications, the country's leading Internet software provider, the use of the mobile Web rises during the lunch hours and surges in the evening from 7 p.m. when workers usually leave their office. The portion of internet users going online using their cell phone reached 28.5 percent of the total web traffic between 7 p.m. and 12 a.m. The usage rate of the mobile Web reaches its peak at 9 p.m.

Koreans increasingly access the Web via handsets, spurred by the launch of Apple's iPhone and a slew of other smartphones. The country's mobile carriers are also scurrying to increase the number of free Wi-Fi zones and to introduce competitive data plans in an effort to boost wireless Internet usage.

The number of Americans accessing the Web over mobile devices is also on rise.

Mobile Web usage in the U.S. climbs steadily throughout the day, peaking at 9 p.m., according to a new study by mobile media measurement firm Ground Truth.

Mobile Web access, measured in page view consumption, rises from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workdays, with an average of 54 percent of users looking for content during this time. Web usage intensifies after 6 p.m. and reaches a peak three hours later. The 9 p.m. period accounts for 7.2 percent of all daily page views, the report said.

The study proves that the mobile Internet is an "always-on" medium and has become well-established as a part of daily life, Ground Truth said.

More than half of all mobile Internet users are accessing the Web from the moment they wake up until they go to bed at night, it added.

-The Korea Herald/Asia News Network