Seven mobile communications operators in Asia have announced the Asia Pacific Mobile Alliance (APMA), providing global roaming and other value-added service for business people and tourists.

The seven operators are NTT Docomo from Japan, Hutchison Teleservices from Hong Kong and others from India, Indonesia and Taiwan. They also plan to draw in more new members in the future.

Huang Jinghui, CEO of Hutchison Teleservices says, that the establishment of APMA is timely and it is conducive for the member companies to improve their competitiveness within the market.

Analysts say that the alliance among communications operators is burgeoning in Asia and with the popularization of mobile phones, roaming services will become one of the major income sources for the operators.

APMA has up to 100 million users in eight countries and regions in Asia Pacific. From the second half of this year, they will add service support to trans-border clients in addition to further improving their roaming and other audio and video services.

Users of the alliance members will enjoy the same service with local users when they travel in a corresponding area.