Vimpelcom To Offer Russian IPhone

August 28, 2008 9:19 a.m. EST

Moscow, Russia (AHN) - VimpelCom, a Russian telecom firm, becomes the first to publicly announce it will offer the iconic Apple iPhone sometime later in 2008, reports said Thursday. The telecom joins Mobile Telesystems and MegaFon as companies planning to sell the iPhone to Russian fans.

As part of the agreement, Apple is requiring the three carriers sell up to 3.5 million handsets within two years. Earlier iPhones, smuggled into the country, were selling for up to $1,800 per device, the Washington Post reported earlier this year.

Russian newspaper Vedomosti writes the new iPhones will cost around $1,000 when purchased without a carrier contract or $200 with a contract.

Russia has some 500,000 iPhone users, according to estimates, placing it as the largest concentration of iPhone owners behind the U.S. and China.