Vodafone, Telecom Italia seal deal to sell iPhone

Vodafone and Telecom Italia will both sell Apple's iPhone in Italy, in an apparent break from previous exclusive carrier deals, a Reuters report said.

So far, Apple has struck exclusive deals with carriers to sell the phone, such as with AT&T in the US, Telefonica's O2 in Britain and Deutsche Telekom in Germany, the report said.

Neither Vodafone nor Telecom Italia provided much detail.

As reported yesterday, Vodafone said it would sell the iPhone in ten countries.

Rival O2 has described the device as a star performer which draws increased numbers of customers into its stores.

Customers using the phone have also driven up data revenues by surfing the internet and sending emails, a key attraction to operators as the cost of making calls decreases.