Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Ltd. ("FET," Taiwan), Hutchison Essar Limited ("Hutchison Essar," India), Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited ("Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong," Hong Kong and Macau), KT Freetel Co., Ltd. ("KTF," Rep. of Korea), NTT DoCoMo, Inc. ("DoCoMo," Japan), PT Indosat Tbk ("Indosat," Indonesia) and StarHub Ltd. ("StarHub," Singapore) today announced that they have formed an alliance to enhance members' competitiveness in international roaming and corporate mobile services in their own countries/regions and across Asia-Pacific.

The alliance, tentatively called the "Asia-Pacific Mobile Alliance," boasts a combined customer base of about 100 million mobile subscribers over eight countries and regions. The alliance plans to expand its members over time.

The alliance will promote voice, video and data roaming via members' GSM/GPRS and /or W-CDMA networks, with an intention to launch roaming via HSDPA networks once the market is ready. These initiatives are targeted for launch in the latter half of 2006.

One of the other aims of this alliance is to create a Virtual Home Environment amongst customers of member operators, so that they are able to experience seamless, convenient mobile-related services when they roam. Customers can expect a caller ID display service, as well as a short-code service to allow travelers quick and easy connection to their home country/region operator's voice mail and customer-support center, etc. The alliance is also planning to enhance cross-border customer support for multinational corporations.

Masao Nakamura, president and CEO of DoCoMo, commented, "DoCoMo is delighted to form this alliance with the leading mobile operators in this region. We are confident that working together with the alliance partners will enable us to not only enhance each partner's corporate value, profitability and competitiveness, but also provide the highest levels of customer satisfaction by enhancing seamless mobile services. DoCoMo is looking forward to contributing to the success of this alliance by offering the best services and experience for all customers combined."

Terry Clontz, president and CEO of StarHub, said, "StarHub sees this alliance as a powerful way to accelerate the creation and implementation of enhanced mobile products and services for customers by leveraging the collective scale, footprint, and experience of its members. It also allows StarHub to fully explore business opportunities together with other members. This will enhance each member's competitive positioning within their respective markets, particularly with corporate customers."