The travel tech and roaming world just got a remarkable upgrade. The Travel Alliance — made up of eight heavy-hitter mobile operators across the Asia-Pacific region (Singtel, AIS, Taiwan Mobile, GOMO Philippines, KDDI, Telkomsel, Optus and HKT) — has officially launched WanderJoy, the world’s first cross-border rewards programme by telcos, unveiled at the KDDI SUMMIT 2025 in Tokyo.

This isn’t just another loyalty scheme. It signals a strategic pivot for telcos—from mere connectivity providers to full-blown travel experience enablers. For B2B partners in travel tech, roaming, and hospitality (hello Alertify!) it’s a noteworthy development: the overlapping worlds of roaming, travel rewards and partner ecosystems are converging.

Why this matters for travellers (and travel-tech ecosystems)

Despite mobile operators boasting 5G roaming coverage, many travellers still hit friction points: swapping SIMs, managing disjointed loyalty schemes, and facing language barriers in foreign markets. The region’s widely cited Asia Pacific Loyalty Programs Intelligence Report 2025 underscores that traveller experiences across APAC remain “fragmented and inconsistent.”

WanderJoy aims to bridge that gap by giving users access to curated privileges — premium airport lounges, dining, entertainment, tours — via a single frictionless platform, redeemable across borders. The Travel Alliance already serves over 350 million customers with connectivity and roaming in the region, so layering on travel-lifestyle is a logical next step.

For Alertify’s audience—frequent travellers, digital nomads, business travellers—this is exactly the kind of seamless, value-added roaming/experience bundle they’ll appreciate.

How WanderJoy works

• Customers of any of the Alliance telcos can access WanderJoy offers through their existing mobile apps (e.g., myAIS app, My Singtel, The Club by HKT, MyTelkomsel etc.).
• Once inside the app, travellers browse offers by destination or category (airport lounge access, dining deals, transport, tours).
• They redeem vouchers or digital coupons without leaving the telco ecosystem—no separate login or switching platforms.
• The partner ecosystem is live and growing: initial partners include Dragonpass (airport lounge/fast-track), Estée Lauder (travel duty-free beauty rewards), Grab (rides/food), KKday (tours/activities), Omio (multi-modal transport booking) and Trip.com (flights/hotels).

The beauty of it: your connectivity provider becomes your travel companion too.

Telco quotes: framing the transformation

Here’s how some of the key players are positioning the move:

“The Travel Alliance members are moving beyond connectivity to becoming travel enablers — giving our customers a window into new experiences and making their trips smoother and more memorable.”
— Anna Yip (CEO, International Digital Services, Singtel & Chairperson of the Travel Alliance)

“By leveraging trusted networks and regional partnerships, the alliance … empowers travellers with seamless, borderless lifestyle experiences across Asia-Pacific.”
— Derrick Heng (CMO, Telkomsel)

These statements reflect telcos’ desire to play in the lifestyle ecosystem, not just “sell connectivity.” For us in Alertify, this trend offers a synergy: connectivity + travel-experience = stronger proposition.

What this means for roaming, eSIMs & travel tech

1. Elevating roaming from utility to experience

Traditionally, roaming and eSIMs were all about one thing — staying connected abroad. WanderJoy changes that. It turns connectivity into a gateway to richer travel experiences. Instead of stopping at data and coverage, telcos are now curating what happens next — the lounges you enter, the meals you enjoy, the moments you unlock on the road. It’s a move that perfectly echoes Alertify’s vision: making global connectivity not just simple, affordable, and smart — but genuinely rewarding.

2. eSIM providers & telecom teams can play

If you’re in the eSIM or roaming business, this shift opens real opportunities. WanderJoy proves that the future of connectivity isn’t just about selling data — it’s about selling experiences.

Think beyond gigabytes.
Integrate lifestyle perks, travel benefits, and exclusive access into your offers. Collaborate with telcos and travel platforms that already blend connectivity with rewards — because that’s where travellers are heading next.

And when you talk about your brand or affiliate offers, flip the narrative: it’s no longer “cheap data abroad,” it’s “connectivity meets experience.”

3. Analytics, Data, and Partnerships Take Center Stage

WanderJoy isn’t just another coupon hub — it’s powered by insight. Telcos already hold one of the richest datasets in travel: real-time roaming behaviour, destinations, usage patterns, and customer preferences. When that data is combined with strong partner ecosystems across hospitality, transport, and retail, it becomes a powerful engine for personalized travel experiences and smarter loyalty offers.

As Anna Yip highlighted, this is where the real innovation lies — in connecting telco intelligence with travel and lifestyle partners to deliver meaningful, data-driven value across borders.

For travel tech and roaming, this marks a clear shift: telcos are no longer just carriers — they’re becoming travel-tech platforms, using analytics and collaboration to enhance every stage of the journey.

4. Regional scale matters

What makes WanderJoy stand out is its true regional reach. Spanning the entire Asia-Pacific and uniting eight powerhouse operators, it delivers a level of scale and consistency that most regional players simply can’t match. That scale translates into real benefits — stronger partner appeal, richer rewards, smoother redemption, and a genuinely unified experience across borders. In a space where eSIM and roaming brands often compete on price alone, WanderJoy is competing on ecosystem power — and that’s a big differentiator.

Challenges & things to watch

While this initiative is compelling, a critical eye is essential (especially for content aimed at B2B travel-tech stakeholders):

• Redemption clarity: Often loyalty partnerships look great on paper; the real test is ease of redemption in-market (e.g., will a traveller in Thailand or Taiwan or Australia face anything cumbersome?).
• Coverage of offers vs breadth of customers: The Alliance covers ~350 million customers across the region (per telco claims). Beranda But the partner-network must match that breadth for the ‘every traveller’ promise.
• Localization / language / UX: One of the fragmentation pain points is language & local partner limitations—how seamlessly localised will acquisitions & redemption be, especially in more challenging markets?
• Data/privacy/regulation: Using telco data + partner networks might raise privacy/regulatory scrutiny in some jurisdictions.
• Competition & differentiation: Others in the travel-loyalty space (airlines, hotel groups, banks, credit cards) are also evolving with global offers. Telcos must differentiate beyond connectivity.
• Sustainability of model: How will telcos monetise this beyond connectivity & data? Are rewards subsidised? What’s the margin? For B2B tech providers (like eSIM aggregators), understanding partner economics is key.

Comparison & Market Context

To conclude, it’s useful to position WanderJoy vis-à-vis the wider loyalty/travel ecosystem:

• Telco-led loyalty is rare: Traditionally, banks/credit-cards, airlines, and hotels lead cross-border loyalty. Telcos entering this domain gives an interesting twist: they hold the connectivity anchor, the device and the roaming link, which is under-monetised in many markets.
• Regional cross-border vs global fragmentation: Many loyalty programmes work well nationally, less so cross-border. By being APAC-wide, the Travel Alliance gets scale. This gives a competitive edge compared to smaller national telco loyalty efforts.
• Adjacency to roaming & eSIM disruption: For your field (eSIM, roaming, travel tech), this is a strong example of convergence: mobile operator + travel experience. While many eSIM providers focus on data packs, integrating travel experiences (e.g., lounge access, tours) could become a differentiator.
• From utility to lifestyle: Connectivity used to be commoditised. By layering travel-lifestyle, telcos aim to drive stickiness and higher margins. This mirrors trends in other industries (banks adding lifestyle perks; airlines adding fintech). Telcos doing it for travel is smart.
• Partner-ecosystem is key: The launch list (Dragonpass, Grab, KKday etc.) shows telcos reaching horizontally into transport, tours, lifestyle. For travel-tech vendors, this means opportunity: integrate, offer APIs, and get into telco bundles.

In short, WanderJoy isn’t just another loyalty program — it’s a sign of how telcos are rewriting the rules of travel and connectivity. What used to be about data and coverage is now about experiences and ecosystems. For anyone watching the evolution of roaming, eSIMs, and travel tech, this is more than a headline — it’s a glimpse into where the industry is headed next.

Conclusion

The launch of WanderJoy marks a real turning point in how travel tech and roaming evolve. For years, connectivity was the destination — stay online, avoid roaming shocks, keep your SIM working abroad. Now, the game is changing. Telcos are stepping into the role of travel experience enablers, blending networks, data, partnerships, and loyalty into one connected journey.

For travellers, that shift translates into fewer headaches and more value: one app that works across borders, no more juggling SIMs or reward systems that stop at the border. For the wider travel-tech world — especially in the eSIM and roaming space — this move sends a clear message: connectivity is no longer the differentiator. Experience is.

It’s a change that creates new opportunities for every part of the ecosystem. From eSIM comparisons and roaming bundles to affiliate partnerships and B2B collaborations, the new equation is connectivity + experience. Travellers don’t just want data abroad anymore — they want smooth access, real benefits, and memorable moments wherever they land.

What truly makes WanderJoy stand out is its telco backbone. Most loyalty programs rely on airlines, hotels, or credit cards. Few have the one thing that connects travellers 24/7 — the network itself. That gives WanderJoy a unique vantage point: device + network + roaming = real-time, borderless engagement. In a world where digital nomads and frequent travellers expect seamless, value-rich experiences, that edge matters.

The next challenge will be execution — the depth of partnerships, the ease of redemption, the scalability across languages and markets, and how well the ecosystem adapts. But the direction is clear: this isn’t just another loyalty scheme. It’s the start of a new model for travel-tech collaboration.

As KDDI put it:

“Mobile connectivity has long been essential — but now it becomes a true gateway to richer, more seamless travel experiences.”

And that’s the future unfolding before us — where getting connected abroad is just the beginning, and experiencing better when you’re connected is what truly defines smart travel.