The Wireless Marketing Association (WMA), a UK-founded body with links in Germany and Italy, will merge with the Wireless Advertising Association (WAA), an international organisation based in the US.

The two have formed the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) to consolidate efforts and resources in their common goal to foster the mobile marketing industry and protect the interests of both the consumer and the industry.

The MMA brings together the global members of the WAA, such as Unilever, AOL, Ogilvy Interactive, DoubleClick and Nokia, with the WMA's strong UK membership. This includes network operators Orange, BT Cellnet and Vodafone, media companies News International, Freeserve and Lycos, and consumer brand owners such as drinks manufacturer Diageo.

Steve Wunker, co-chairman of the MMA European committee, said: "The MMA now has a much broader membership base which is vital if we are to gain mass acceptance of mobiles as a marketing medium."

He added that the association hopes to work on a variety of research projects on how phone users react to advertising and how to control privacy and fraud.