Exclusive Orange iPhone banned in France

The Conseil de la concurrence, France's competition regulator, has suspended France Telecom's exclusive Apple iPhone 3G deal - which means the phone will also be available from the SFR and Bouygues Telecom networks from tomorrow. France Telecom apparently had a five-year deal with Apple to sell its iPhone on the Orange network in France, which was seen as damaging competition in the mobile phone market. [Sources: WashingtonPost.com; ArsTechnica.com]

Takeovers not happening

Phones International Group has had its £120 million bid for rival distributor 20:20 Mobile rejected. And across the channel, France Telecom has abandoned its bid for Scandinavian telecoms giant TeliaSonera. [Sources: Mobile News; IHT.com]

Takeover talks

Vodafone has announced that Verizon Wireless, its partner in the USA, has agreed to buy Alltel for $28.1 billion. Alltel is the 5th largest mobile operator in the USA, with over 13 million customers. This will make Verizon, of which Vodafone owns 45%, the country's largest mobile network with around 80 million customers. Meanwhile France Telecom, which owns the Orange brand, has been rejected after offering to buy Scandinavian telecoms giant TeliaSonera. [Vodafone press release; TeliaSonera press release]

Official iPhone figures from Germany

Telecoms.com reports that T-Mobile Germany has released details of its Apple iPhone sales. It's sold 70,000 iPhones since the handset launched in November, which is being compared with unofficial reports of 70,000 sold in France on the France Telecom network and 200,000 in the UK on O2.