China Telecom to Sell Apple’s iPhone 4S From March 9th; Offers Free iPhone 4S With 3-Year Contracts

After several years of rumors and speculations, China Telecom has announced that it will be offering Apple's iPhone 4S from March 9th.

China Telecom - the countries third largest carrier will start accepting pre-orders for iPhone 4S from March 2nd.

This means that China Telecom will lose its iPhone exclusivity in the country after almost three years.

M.I.C Gadget reports that China Telecom has issued the following statement:

“We are very pleased to provide our customers with the outstanding new iPhone 4S. We believe that our customers will be pleasantly surprised by the iPhone 4S on China Telecom’s high-quality 3G network,” said China Telecom deputy general manager Yang Xiaowei.

And Apple has confirmed the announcement, according to LoopInsight:

“iPhone 4S has been an incredible hit with customers around the world,” Apple spokesperson Natalie Harrison, told The Loop. “We’re thrilled to be launching iPhone 4S with China Telecom and can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers in China.”

According to M.I.C Gadget, China Telecom is offering quite a good deal on the iPhone 4S. It will be offering the 16GB iPhone 4S for free with any 3-year contract or  a 32GB iPhone 4S if customers pays a monthly subscription of $46 for 3G data services, SMS and voice calls. Customers can also get a 64GB iPhone 4S for free with a 3-year contract if they pay a monthly subscription of $62.

Apple has already seen unprecedented demand for the iPhone 4S in China. It remains to be seen what impact China Telecom with over 130 million subscribers will have on iPhone 4S sales.