Are 2 Carriers Getting iPhone to India?

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) said in a statement today that it will bring Apple's iPhone to India, Singapore, Australia, and the Philippines this year. Meanwhile, Airtel issued a separate statement saying it will bring the iPhone to India. As it is, SingTel has a stake in Bharti Airtel so the iPhone via SingTel would be made available on the Airtel network in India.

What is curious though is that just last week, Vodafone said it is bringing the iPhone to India later this year, along with nine other countries including the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey. In fact even Telecom Italia announced its deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Italy in the second half of the year, which means the iPhone in Italy too will not remain exclusive to Vodafone's network.

If Vodafone and Airtel are both right, does that mean the Apple iPhone will be brought to India by two carriers? We at Techtree feel this could be the next step in Apple's strategy to do away with their exclusivity clause -- after Italy. Which would bring down prices of the iPhone considerably -- with both telcos vying for a larger share of the Apple pie in India. And for customers, it may well mean good times lie ahead...