The Bridge Alliance, a group of Asian operators focused on roaming and enterprise services, is widening its span with a move into M2M services.

The 11 operators behind the newly-minted Bridge M2M Alliance claim it is the region’s largest line-up for such services.

Familiar to M2M groups, the operators claim they eliminate complexity for multinationals wanting a service across the Asia region. Improved interoperability, guaranteed service levels and customer support are all on the agenda, they said.

“Asia is made up of highly varied economies, uneven technological development and diversified regulatory requirements. As a result, multinational businesses find it extremely difficult to navigate the intricacies of the region and to fully capitalise on economies of scale,” said Alessandro Adriani, the CEO of Bridge Alliance.

By working together, the operators aim “to overcome these challenges for the success of customers’ businesses”, said Adriani.

The 11 operators said they serve a combined base of over 500 million subscribers. They are India’s Bharti Airtel, Thailand’s AIS, CSL in Hong Kong, Globe Telecom (Philippines), Maxis (Malaysia), Mobifone (Vietnam), Optus (Australia), SingTel (Singapore), SK Telecom (South Korea), Taiwan Mobile and Indonesia’s Telkomsel.

The new alliance did not reveal a launch date for the proposed service. It follows the announcement of a global M2M service at the end of 2013 by the M2M World Alliance. The latter group includes members with a presence in Australia, Japan and Singapore. The only crossover in terms of membership with the new group is SingTel.