TeliaSonera secures iPhone deal for Nordic and Baltics

3G on its way

By Jan Libbenga • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 27th May 2008 10:47 GMT

TeliaSonera today announced it will bring Apple's iPhone to all Nordic and Baltic countries, including Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Until now, the iPhone wasn't available in those countries. TeliaSonera also offers services in Spain and the emerging markets of Eurasia, including Russia and Turkey, but these countries are not part of the agreement.

Presumably Scandinavians and Balts will be bypassing the 2G stage of iPhone progress straight to the vendor's 3G phone. The telco revealed little detail on its plans for the phone, other than to confirm that sales will begin "later this year".

The announcement comes just two weeks after French carrier Orange said it had secured a deal with Apple to market the iPhone in more than a dozen countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean. Earlier this month, Vodafone said it would distribute the iPhone also in at least ten countries, including South Africa and Australia.

With TeliaSonera's announcement, most European countries are now included with Apple's iPhone distribution plan, including Austria, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Greece, Italy and Spain. The first generation iPhone was already available in Germany, France and the UK.

Only the Netherlands remains a big question mark. Last year T-Mobile was rumoured to be the exclusive iPhone distributor there, but the company denied it categorically.

Apple is expected to announce its new 3G (HSDPA) iPhone in the coming weeks. According to some reports, Orange in France is already offering its existing iPhone customers an upgrade to the 3G iPhone for just €50. ®

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