iPhone rollout: TeliaSonera deal brings total to 67 countries

You can finally color Scandinavia and the Baltic States Apple red.

The news came Tuesday morning in a one-sentence press release of the kind that has become a cell phone-industry standard since Steve Jobs got into the business:

“TeliaSonera today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia later this year.” (link)

With that announcement, Apple (AAPL) filled in one of the last remaining gaps in its international rollout of the iPhone, a new version of which is expected to be released in June.

The addition of these Nordic and Baltic States brings to 67 the total number of countries that will offer the iPhone for sale before the end of the year, according to the list maintained by APPLinvestors.

China is the last major holdout, but there was movement on that front over the weekend. See Did China just open the door to Apple’s iPhone?

With 115 million subscribers, TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST) is the largest Nordic and Baltic State fixed-line, broadband and mobile operator, according to the latest MobileWorld report. Based in Stockholm, it serves some of the world’s most sophisticated cell phone users.

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Correction:
I was trying to add that I hope they can all access iTunes on the new iPhones.

Posted By Steven, San Francisco, California : May 27, 2008 7:55 pm

This is great news. I hope they can all access on their iPhones. I’d like my music to reach those countries more.

Posted By Steven, San Francisco, CA : May 27, 2008 7:53 pm

@XamaxX

it was announced that Apple is in negotiations with Royal KPN about signing an exlusive iPhone deal for the Netherlands.

We did post today.
http://www.ismashphone.com/2008/05/den-beste—dut.html

Posted By iSmashPhone, Philadelphia PA : May 27, 2008 6:47 pm

Uh, François, Spain was announced officially by its CEO, look it up.

Besides, Telefonica is the owner of O2 and it was Telefonica’s President/CEO, not O2’s, to fly over to California to talk Steve Jobs into a deal.

Telefonica is huge and it has a very important stake in Brasil, another big market…

Posted By XamaX, Portugal, Europe : May 27, 2008 11:41 am

I’m waiting for Japan, Korea, Russia, and the old Soviet Union States.

Posted By pk de cville, VA : May 27, 2008 11:02 am

Holland is still not included….. Not the end of the world. I enjoy my iPhone anyway and will get the new one immediately.

Posted By Hans, Amsterdam, Netherlands : May 27, 2008 9:22 am

Since it was a one sentence press release, the question of wether it is an exclusive deal or not is yet to be answered. I wonder if more announcements are to follow this week.

Posted By Anonymous : May 27, 2008 9:09 am

are you missing a decimal point? On my screen, it looks like Telia Sonora has 115 million subscribers; I kinda doubt that one company has more subscribers than these countries have people?

ex ped: TeliaSonora covers more than just these countries. It’s also got subscribers in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Spain. The map on its website extends all the way across Russia.

Posted By Joe S Enfield UK : May 27, 2008 9:08 am

That website is wrong. More, Spain was not officially announced. Liechtenstain is not included but at least Swisscom will cover this little state near Switzerland.

Posted By Francois, Nice, France : May 27, 2008 8:07 am

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Silicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.