I wrote the other day about how much I want to get my hands on an iPhone, but, that until the day comes that I can just walk into an Optus store to buy one, without having to sign up for a contract and wait a few weeks on delivery like they’re currently offering, that I was going to wait and see if any other mobile company made a move. I was actually expecting 3 to sign a deal that would be cheaper and better than anything Optus, Telstra or Vodafone could offer.

Today, right from left of field comes the dark horse. Virgin Mobile (who are part of the Optus Group) have announced that they’re going to carry the iPhone with the following plans:

• Customers will be able to bag a 8GB iPhone 3G for $0 upfront if they sign a 24-month contract at $70 per month.

• For the $70 monthly fee, customers will receive $520 worth of calls and text, and 1GB of data download capacity.
• Customers can upgrade the monthly download capacity to 2GB by paying an additional $15 per month.
• 16GB iphone $100/month, $520 calls, 5GB data

Hopefully I’ll have a 16Gb white iPhone from Virgin over the next few days!