Telecom will start selling iPhones to its retail customers direct this month, stepping up rivalry with Vodafone for the latest generation of smart phones.
From this Friday both Telecom and Vodafone will be offering the iPhone 4S. Telecom will also offer all the previous models of Apple's iPhone, a spokeswoman said.
Up until now the only sales have been to business customers of Telecom's Gen-i division and the phone company has sold sim cards to iPhone owners on competing networks or to those who bought their handset direct from Apple.
Shares of Telecom rose 0.4 per cent to $2.645 on the NZX today and have climbed 21 per cent this year. The company's shareholders have agreed to its plan to separate into retail and network businesses, allowing Telecom to win the lion's share of the government's broadband rollout.
