Update: Pushed on on the prospect of losing iPhone exclusivity, Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) Europe CEO Matthew Key told analysts in their conference call: “We’ve got a multi-year exclusive deal in each of those countries (UK, Spain and Ireland with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) – they’re extremely happy with us and we’re extremely happy with them.”
Any detail? “We’ve never gone towards that and nor have Apple.” Does Key expect a challenge from other operators? “I think virtually every operator in the world would like to have both the iPhone and the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre – the good news is that we are the only ones to have got those devices at the moment.” Several carriers have been reported as negotiating with Apple in recent weeks.
Original: If O2 UK wanted to hang on to its iPhone exclusivity, you’d think parent Telefonica would make some sales boasts in its January-to-June earnings report. But there’s not a single mention throughout the 65 pages.
O2 UK grew its mobile subscriptions by 6.6 percent from last year to 20.7 million, hiking the proportion of its customers on monthly contracts up to 43.6 percent thanks to the Simplicity rolling tariff and the temptation of higher-end handsets.
Per-customer voice revenue dipped 6.6 percent annually, data rose 1.7 percent and SMS fell after O2 was forced to cut mobile termination rates. UK operating income rose 4.5 percent to