Apple loosens iPhone one-carrier policy

Singapore - Apple appears to have ditched its one-carrier policy for the iPhone following a statement announcing that SingTel, Bharti Airtel, Globe Telecom and Optus had signed an agreement with the company to bring the product to Singapore, India, the Philippines and Australia, later this year.

Vodafone, which had earlier signed agreements with Apple in Australia and India, will now compete with SingTel subsidiaries Optus and Bharti Airtel in those markets respectively.

SingTel would not provide any further details but, rival, StarHub said that in Singapore, the agreement was also not exclusive.

"We expect all three operators in Singapore would be offering the iPhone by the end of the year," Michael Sim, corporate communications and investor relations for StarHub said.

An M1 spokesperson weighed in saying "it will continue to maintain dialogue with Apple" and that its "interest is more in the upcoming 3G model".

Apple would only say that it was "excited to be working with SingTel to bring the iPhone to Singapore later this year".

"We can't wait to get this revolutionary phone in the hands of even more people around the world," Apple spokeswoman, Jill Tan said.

The company declined to comment on reports that the iPhone would launch in Singapore in September at an initial price of $690.