Vodafone Australia has officially confirmed it will be Australia’s first mobile service provider to stock Apple’s much lauded iPhone.

The announcement comes barely a week after industry speculation that Optus would also carry the iPhone.

According to a statement from Vodafone, the mobile service provider has signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten of its markets around the globe. Australia joins the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey among the list of key markets to sell iPhone for use on the Vodafone network.

Vodafone Australia CEO, Russell Hewitt, said the mobile service provider was “enormously pleased” to be included in the agreement but stopped short of announcing an official launch date.

“The iPhone will be the perfect addition to Vodafone Australia’s mobile handset range. The iPhone’s Australian launch is well-timed to coincide with our plans to deliver an enhanced mobile internet and entertainment experience to customers.

“The iPhone has already proved to be extremely popular with customers in other parts of the world and Vodafone is confident that today’s announcement will be well received by all Australians who are keen to get their hands on their own iPhone,” he said.

Vodafone was scant on details and declined to confirm if Apple would coincide the iPhone’s launch in Australia with the release of a 3G iPhone model.

It is unclear whether the agreement is exclusive in the same way as other deals between Apple and mobile service providers in various countries.

AT&T won the exclusive contract in the US, O2 in the UK and Ireland, and T-Mobile in Germany and Austria.

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