Nordic carriers vie for iPhone rights
updated 09:10 am EDT, Fri September 21, 2007
Nordic carriers and iPhone
Two Nordic phone carriers are pursuing deals with Apple to carry the iPhone in their respective service regions, say spokesmen from the companies. The Swedish company TeliaSonera and Norwegian operator Telenor have both stated that they are "very interested in the iPhone," but cannot reveal anything more to the press due to ongoing negotiations. "We have seen immense interest in the iPhone from our customers," says Telenor representative Anders Krokan. "We are still in talks, but I doubt we would be able to offer the iPhone this year."
Telenor's cellular operations are primarily concentrated in Norway, but TeliaSonera has primary positions in both Sweden and Finland, with lesser stakes in other regions of Europe.
Should Apple agree to a deal with the companies, it would most likely be on a nationally-exclusive basis. Earlier in the week, it was finally announced that O2 would be the exclusive British carrier, while T-Mobile would claim Germany, and France would belong to Orange. Vodafone was once considered a prime candidate for carrying the iPhone on a pan-European basis, but the company has refused to carry the product on the basis that it has no 3G broadband, instead relying on "2.5G" EDGE technology.
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It should be noted
...that TeliaSonera is also operating in Norway as the owner of NetCom, the second largest carrier. This MAY of course come in handy if you want to get things sorted out for several countries at once. Telenor is a partner of Cloud Nordic, a division of the WiFi company providing hotspots for iPhone in the UK. At least for Norway, the longest lock-in plan allowed by law is 12 months.