Asia-Pacific's web growth

Asia-Pacific's web growth

SINGAPORE (AFP): The Asia Pacific region has become the engine-room for growth in Internet activity, with South Koreans the heaviest users in the world, according to study released Friday.

The Nielsen/NetRatings survey found the global Internet family grew by 10 million last month to 390 million people, with the most intense usage figures in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Taiwan and Australia

"Surfers within the Asia Pacific region are clearly continuing to drive a high level of global Internet activity," said Hoe Chin Fee, the Southeast Asian managing director of ACNielsen eRatings.

"Korea and Hong Kong in particular are very active web markets, while most countries in the region are also well ahead of the global average," she said.

Click-happy South Koreans spent the most time on line, viewing an average 90 pages in 42 minutes each surfing session, but they spent the least amount of time on each page at a mere 28 seconds.

Globally, the statistical average surfer spent 31 minutes and 27 seconds on each session, visiting 44 pages at 40 seconds per page.