Orange iPhone tariffs

Following today's announcement by Orange that the iPhone will be available from 10th November, James Parker, mobiles manager at moneysupermarket.com said, "O2 have had free reign over the iPhone in the UK until now and although Orange has announced comparable tariffs to O2, competition has not been ignited as prospective iPhone customers may have hoped.

"The tariffs announced by Orange are generally the same as O2s. For example, the average mobile users might go for 600 minutes and 500 texts which costs £34.26 on both networks on a 24 month contract, with the 16GB 3GS handset costing £87 on Orange and 11p more on O2.

"The only discernable differences are that Orange offers customers a lower cost entry level tariff at £29.36 a month for 150 minutes and 250 texts on a 24 month contract, and Orange impose a fair usage limit of 750MB a month whereas O2 have no set limit. For first time iPhone customers looking to switch there is nothing between the two operators, but existing Orange or O2 customers may have some luck in negotiating an upgrade to one of the iPhone tariffs. Orange also has an attractive bonus in the Orange Wednesday offer.

"The appetite for the iPhone is enormous and Orange will no doubt find it quickly becomes one of their most popular handsets, particularly ahead of Christmas. The lack of competition between Orange and O2 will disappoint many, but there is still the prospect of Vodafone offering the iPhone in the new year which may really get the competition going."