Mobile web use is gaining traction in the United States and may soon surpass use in the United Kingdom, where consumers have accessed the internet from phones for years, according to data released by Bango, MarketingCharts reports.

The top five countries accessing the mobile web via Bango in July 2008 were the UK at 19.35 percent, the US at 18.88 percent, India at 10.82 percent, South Africa at 8.82 percent and Indonesia at 4.08 percent, according to Bango data.

The top 10 countries accessing the mobile web together constitute 74.5 percent of all mobile web usage; 91 other countries make up the remainder.

Bango identifies users by country and network of origin. The ranking is produced by measuring the number of user visits to mobile websites from each country.

"The USA share of the browsing market has grown as an increasing number of phones come with bigger screens and service contracts that include unlimited internet access," said Adam Kerr, VP of Bango North America at Bango. "We fully expect the US will overtake the UK in this ranking as early as this month."

"We predicted 2008 would be a pivotal year for the mobile web in the US, and our data is backing that up. Clearly the rate of growth and acceleration is getting faster in the US and around the world," Kerr concluded.