If you were hoping for additional regional suppliers for the iPhone 4S, you’re in luck.
Per AppleInsider, Apple has finished several deals with smaller regional carriers in the U.S., as Kentucky’s Bluegrass Cellular, California’s Golden State Cellular, and Kansas’ Nex-Tech Wireless will begin offering the iPhone 4S on May 18.
The iPhone 4S will be available starting at US$149 for the 16-gigabyte model, US$249 for the 32-gigabyte model, and US$349 for the 64-gigabyte capacity. Those prices are US$50 cheaper than with the three major carriers in the U.S.
In addition, all three carriers will also offer Apple’s previous-generation 8-gigabyte iPhone 4 for US$49. Customers can pre-register for their purchase today.
The three carriers’ networks are based on the same CDMA wireless standard used by major U.S. carriers Verizon and Sprint. Bluegrass Cellular is headquartered in Elizabethtown, Ken., Golden State Cellular is based out of Jamestown, Calif., and Nex-Tech operates out of Hays, Kan.
A month ago, a total of five carriers announced they had signed a deal with Apple. Alaska Communications, Appalachian Wireless, Cellcom, GCI and nTelos all began selling the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on April 20.
Apple began expanding availability of the iPhone to smaller, regional carriers last October when a deal with C Spire Wireless was announced. That carrier has about 900,000 customers.
Only one of the four major U.S. carriers — T-Mobile — does not currently offer the iPhone, because of technical limitations. But that could change as soon as the end of this year, as the carrier plans to modify its network to allow compatibility with the iPhone’s HSPA+ wireless antenna for high-speed data.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.