Band, a group-based mobile messenger run by South Korea's top portal operator, Naver Corp., has surpassed the 50 million-hit milestone in its cumulative global downloads on the back of robust demand in Asian markets, the company said Wednesday.

Launched in August 2012, the social networking mobile application is designed to offer private chatting services for users to talk in groups, unlike other popular open-ended instant messengers.

Its downloads reached the record level as of last Tuesday, Camp Mobile, an affiliate of Naver and the messenger operator, said in a press release.

It cited significant growth in the number of fresh users in Taiwan and India as a main reason for the record number of download hits, which increased by a whopping 370 percent and 1,422 percent in each country last month from a year earlier.

The messenger has had particular success in Taiwan, as demand for forming community groups via a mobile app to share the same hobby or study a foreign language is very high, the company said. 

The additional launch of an open-ended version to the messenger also contributed to the record download hits, it said.

Band was also listed as "the app of the week" on Google Play in 13 countries, including the U.S., Hong Kong and India two weeks ago. It is currently available in 178 countries globally. (Yonhap)