Mobile phone users in the Americas may have expanded roaming capabilities when traveling abroad thanks to an alliance VeriSign forged with International Mobile Communications that allows it to offer mobile carriers access to IMC's global roaming agreements.

Under the deal, announced Monday, Internet and telecommunications service provider VeriSign is offering mobile carriers in North and South America the ability to expand their coverage beyond Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks to the GSM networks prevalent in Europe, Asia and Africa.

The new Interstandard Roaming service will help carriers retain international travelers, who may have been frustrated previously with limited coverage, VeriSign said.

Interstandard Roaming was introduced this week to members of the Pan-American Roaming Consortium and includes the handling of roaming agreements, data clearing and billing conversion, and financial clearing and settlement among other services.

IMC and its participating affiliates operate under the WorldCell RSB brand.

No one from VeriSign or IMC was immediately available to comment on the deal Monday.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.