Reuters reports that Megafon, Russia’s second-largest wireless carrier, has reached a three-year deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in Russia.
Megafon first sold the iPhone in 2008 and subsequently halted sales of the handset after it and other Russian carriers could not sell the volume of handsets required by Apple.
Apple is alleged to have relaxed its requirements for partner carriers, signing a deal with Megafon competitor Vimpelcom in October 2013. This opened the door for the Magafon deal. This makes number one carrier MTS the remaining holdout. It currently buys its iPhones via third-party distributors.
The iPhone has a 20% share of the market in Russia based on revenue. In units sold, the handset grabbed 9% of the pie for 2013.
