“We are negotiating on details, including a revenue sharing standard. Apple needs a local operator to promote iPhone,” Prattana Leelapanang, assistant vice president for AIS’s wireless business marketing, told Reuters.
He gave no details of when the talks would be completed.
iPhone, which combines Apple’s iPod music player, a video player and a Web browser, is now sold in the United States and Europe, and Apple plans to launch it in Asia this year.
Last week, Apple and China Mobile, the world’s largest cellular operator, terminated talks to launch iPhone, one of the hottest gadgets to hit U.S. and European stores in 2007.
Apart from China, Apple had also initiated talks with NTT DoCoMo Inc and Softbank Corp to bring its multimedia device to Japan, although sources at both firms said revenue-sharing was a hotly contested issue.
AIS, 21.4 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, also signed a contract with state-owned fixed line operator TOT to develop their networks jointly in a bid to cut costs, AIS president Wichian Mektrakarn told reporters.
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