European telecommunications Company O2 has resulted as the winner of an apparent bidding war that included the likes of Cisco and Microsoft reports The Marker.

Jajah is an innovative and customer-friendly VoIP startup from Israel that facilitates its users to make long distance calls at the cheapest rates, without necessitating them to buy any headphones, microphones or installing any software.

It has raised $35 million from Deutsche Telekom AG, Intel Capital, Sequoia and other venture capital funds since its founding in 2005.

Via TechCrunch via Reuters

O2 is to allow its iPhone customers in the UK to unlock their handset from tomorrow.

10 November is the day that sees O2′s two-year exclusivity deal with Apple come to an end. Rival network Orange is starting to sell iPhones from tomorrow and O2 obviously sees no reason to force customers to use their handset only on its own network any more.

On a dedicated Unlock My iPhone page O2 explains that pay monthly customers can unlock their handset at any point in their contract. They will, of course, have to honour the rest of the contract commitment. This can either be by paying it off monthly or by paying the entire remaining sum in one go.

Pay-as-you-go customers need to have had their phone for at least one year and will have to pay a £15 charge. The process will be free for Pay Monthly customers. Either way, there will be a delay of up to 14 days for the network to unlock the handset.

It seems a little odd that O2 is penalising Pay-as-you-go customers in this way. After all, they have already paid a much higher price for their handset in the first place. The move increases the resale value of a customer’s handset if they’re think of moving to another device. It also allows those near the end of their contract to move to another, cheaper, network if they’re happy to pay the existing one.

The move may well be a precursor to similar arrangements in other countries where carriers have exclusive deals with Apple. The USA, for example, still has AT&T as its sole iPhone carrier, an arrangement likely to continue until the third anniversary of the deal in June 2010. It’s unlikely that AT&T will allow unlocking before then.

Orange has confirmed it will sell the iPhone from the 10th November, ending its two-year exclusive period with O2.

If you thought price would be a motivation for switching over to Orange, think again. Orange currently do not seem to be considering pricing as a way to motivate O2 customers to make the switch, at least not yet.

What they do offer however is an option to acquire the iPhone 3GS with no initial down payment, something O2 doesn’t offer. To do that however you’re looking to pay a minimum of £73.40 and a 24 month contract. It’s also interesting to note that there is no 12 month contract with Orange, it’s either 18 months or 24.

For the iPhone 3G, Orange will offer the 3G iPhone free to subscribers who take up a £30 two-year contract, with the more powerful 3GS available free on £45 contracts.

Pay-as-you-go customers can buy the iPhone (8GB) for £333 and iPhone 3GS for £539. The iPhone will be offered with unlimited data bundles, with a cap of 750MB fair usage per month.

O2′s iPhone exclusivity in the UK comes to an end on November 10th reports the Times when Orange will offer its customers the device.

Prices and tariffs have not yet been quoted by Orange, but it’s likely we’ll witness somewhat of a price war to sway current O2 iPhone customers away from the network.

Over 200,000 UK customers are thought to have signed-up with Orange for information.

Vodafone will also offer the iPhone in the UK starting next year, while the UK’s smallest operator, 3, has also said it hopes to begin selling iPhones by mid-2010.

Personally, had I not just renewed my contract with O2, I’d be moving without a second thought. Connection issues, calls dropped mid call and general poor quality has left me and others frustrated. With AT&T customers experiencing similar issues, one might conclude the issues are with the iPhone but that is not the case. Friends and colleagues have themeselves unlocked the iPhone to use with other networks, namely Vodafone and Orange, with none experiencing the frequent issues O2 customers have had to put up with.

Let the price wars begin.