Report: O2 Gets iPhone Contract in the UK

Authored by Jay Baage on July 5, 2007 - 1:52am.

UPDATED. UK mobile phone operator O2 has won the first sought-after deal to sell Apple's iPhone in Europe. The BBC reports that O2 is set to sign an exclusive contract shortly and should have the new phones on sale in time for Christmas.

The BBC refers to several press reports that indicated this, but a spokesman for O2, which is owned by Spain's Telefonica, declined to comment on the reports.

Vodafone had previously been tipped as the likely winner of the contract, but the agreement with O2 is reported to have come into place after it was agreed that Apple will receive a continuing share of the revenue generated for the network operator, according to the BBC.

Vodaphone is also rumored to have lost out on selling the iPhone in Germany to Deutsche Telecom's T-Mobile division. T-Mobile won a deal to sell iPhones in Germany starting on Nov. 1, according to a report in a German regional newspaper.

Jay Baage