News
Thai iPhone negotiations include Australia, Singapore
By Charles Starrett
Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Tuesday, January 22, 2008
News Category: iPhone
According to statements made by Advanced Info Service chief marketing officer Sanchai Thiewprasertkul, the Thai-based mobile operator is collaborating with Singapore Telecom and Australia’s Optus to launch the iPhone throughout the region. “Mr Sanchai said that AIS, in collaboration with SingTel and the Australian mobile operator Optus, were discussing phone volumes, marketing terms and business model partnerships,” the Bangkok Post reported. Optus is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Telecom, and SingTel owns 21.4 per cent of AIS; however, Sol Trujillo, CEO of competing Australia telecom Telestra, has said he had conversations with Apple about bringing the iPhone to the country. It was previously reported that Apple was in talks with AIS to launch the iPhone in Thailand, but Sanchai also warned that Apple’s demands for revenue sharing may prove to be a sticking point in the negotiations. “Given our one baht a minute of airtime, it would not make sense and would be impossible for us to share revenue with Apple,” Sanchai said.
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1
Telstra may have the best coverage in Australia, but Sol Trujillo is an Arrogant ######.
I can see the rights to a 3G iPhone going to Optus, simply because of Telstra’s Arrogance. I would switch to Optus in a heartbeat if that was the case: Their Coverage isn’t that much worse than Telstra on Voice; better than Telstra on Data and have better customer service.
Posted by Dan Woods on January 22, 2008 at 11:53 AM (PDT)
2
obviously it’s impossible to sell iphone like hotcakes in asia region, most consumers won’t like tie/contract.
Posted by jc1 on January 23, 2008 at 5:00 AM (PDT)