Europe : LONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone Group Plc, the world's largest mobile phone company, said on Monday it planned to sign exclusive supplier deals for a new generation of phones, but stopped short of saying Asian firms were heading the field.

Inset is the 3G V801SA phone by Sanyo ( could this be heading to the UK ? )

"Vodafone is trialling a number of handsets to support its 3G (third generation) service, which will be available before March 2004," the group stated.

"Vodafone cannot confirm at this stage which manufacturers will be exclusive providers for Vodafone's 3G services."

In an effective snub to top handset maker Nokia, the Financial Times reported that Vodafone was negotiating exclusive deals with Japan's Sanyo Electric Co Ltd and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd of South Korea for its new range of upgraded Vodafone Live! multimedia phones.

The fledgling market for 3G phones, which offer real time video calls, music downloads, video trailers and a host of other Internet-based services, has thrown down the gauntlet to the Finnish-based market leader.

Vodafone has already signed a series of handsets deals with non-European manufacturers such as Japan's Sharp Corp as company gears up to bring its maiden, 3G Live!-branded services to high streets this financial year.

Sanyo already supplies Vodafone's Japanese-based business J-Phone with handsets. The consumer electronics group said in Tokyo it was considering entering Europe's 3G handset market but declined to comment on which carriers it might team up with.

Vodafone has also been testing a 3G handset from Samsung since March, although a London-based Samsung spokeswoman said she had not heard about exclusive vendor talks. And Vodafone has also been trialling 3G handsets from Nokia.

© Reuters 2003. All rights reserved.

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