MEGAFON, Russia's third-largest mobile phone company, said yesterday that it would start selling Apple's iPhone 3G in Russia later this year.
MegaFon did not provide further details of the deal.
iPhones have not gone on sale officially in Russia, but are readily available on the "gray" market, selling for about US$1,000, several times the current retail price in the United States.
Many Russians get them for much less by asking friends to buy them while abroad, then paying another US$100 to unlock the phones, so they can use them in Russia.
With an estimated 500,000 earlier-generation devices in use, Russia is one of the biggest markets for iPhones.
The announcement was made just days after Vimpelcom said it had reached agreement with Apple on selling the phone in Russia. MTS, the only one of the "big three" Russian operators not to formally announce a deal with Apple, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Analysts said Russian operators could find it difficult initially to woo buyers, put off by being able to use the iPhone on only one network.
"Typically Russian operators are not strong handset sellers, and users prefer to buy handsets separately from their mobile contracts," said Konstantin Belov, a telecoms analyst at UralSib.
"But the iPhone is very popular, and if mobile operators start subsidizing it, they will probably see strong demand."