By Victoria Barker

THE competition is on: By the end of the year, all three home-grown telecommunication companies will be selling the much-coveted Apple iPhone 3GS.

StarHub, the last of the bunch to hop on the bandwagon, announced its deal with the United States computing giant in a press statement yesterday.

Information on pricing and availability dates would be released "in due course", it said.

StarHub head of sales Ng Long Shyang told my paper that the agreement was struck in response to its mobile subscribers, who want iPhones and also to continue subscribing to the telco's plans.

The popular smartphone was launched here by SingTel in August last year, while M1 announced last month that it would be selling the gadget to its subscribers before the end of this year, about the same time as StarHub.

A SingTel spokesman said that "tens of thousands" of the handsets have been sold here so far. It offers the iPhone for between $0 and $678, depending on the mobile plan and model chosen.

M1 was unable to provide any updates on pricing information and launch dates.

Administration executive Melvin Phua, 25, who has been a StarHub subscriber for 10 years, welcomes the news.

He has been eyeing the iPhone since it was launched here, but has not bought one as he was bound by his mobile phone contract.

"The iPhone seems very userfriendly, so I'm really happy to hear that StarHub got the green light. And with the market so competitive, it looks like it's time for me to finally buy one," he said.

vbarker@sph.com.sg

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