Asia’s Hutchison Telecom has sealed a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone (News - Alert) in Hong Kong and Macau, two former colonies that are now special administrative regions of the People’s Republic of China.

 

 In a short press release posted on its website, Hutchison Telecom has confirmed the deal and claimed that it will introduce the world’s most popular smartphone later this year.

 

Hutchison, which has a long history in the mobile telephony, offers 2G and 3G services in Australia, Ghana, Indonesia, Israel, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

 

Existing subscribers of Hutchison Telecom, a unit of conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, would be the first users of the iPhone in an early program starting this summer, Reuters reported citing a report in the South China Morning Post.

 

Hutchison Telecommunications is hitting headlines again after it sold controlling stake in “Hutch” product in India to Vodafone (News - Alert) last year.

 

"Due to the confidential agreement with Apple, we can't say too much beyond the formal announcement," the newspaper quoted a Hutchison Telecom spokesman as saying.

 

According to Reuters, Hong Kong people are currently buying the iPhone that allows Internet access and plays music, through unofficial channels often in the form of parallel imports.

 

The newspaper said other mobile operators in Hong Kong would also announce similar partnerships with Apple (News - Alert) to launch 3G iPhones.

 

China Mobile, the world's largest mobile phone operator, said earlier this year it had called off talks with Apple to launch the iPhone in China.

 

As there are hundreds of thousands of illegal iPhones currently being used in China, Apple’s popular iPhone is less likely to create hysteria it created in the US.

 

Yet, Apple Inc badly needs to seal a deal with China Mobile (News - Alert), which has more than 384 million customers, more than the population of the U.S.

 

Earlier this month, four major companies in the Asia-Pacific area announced that they would start distributing the iPhone. SingTel (News - Alert) will bring the device in Singapore, Bharti Airtel Ltd. in India, Optus will cover Australia and Globe Telecom Inc. will sell the iPhone in the Philippines.