According to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T is reportedly urging Apple Inc to extend its exclusive US sales agreement for the iPhone till 2011. Under the present deal between the two companies, AT&T’s three-year deal - beginning with the iPhone launch in June 2007 - for retaining exclusive sales rights pertaining to the iPhone will come to an end in 2010.

With the immensely-popular Apple iPhone having crossed global sales of over 17 million units, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said that he intends shifting his company's focus away from its current core business pertaining to US landline phones, in favor of wireless. Towards that end, Stephenson is reported to have also assessed potential acquisitions in India last year, including a possible $30 billion deal with Reliance Communications Ltd.

Whatever be the outcome of the present talks for extending the exclusivity contract, AT&T would, for at least two more years, retain an inherent technological lead for holding the iPhone, particularly because it happens to be the only key US carrier with 3G using the HSPA standard on the 850MHz band, the iPhone in its present condition only supports its service for full data! 

In nearly 80 countries, the Apple iPhone is serviced by other wireless carriers, including 02 in the UK; T-Mobile in Germany; Orange in France; and Softbank in Japan.