UK Mobile Networks "Unaware" Of Any Amazon Kindle Deal

Amazon might be pushing forward its popular electronic reader, Kindle, to more than 100 countries but it seems that at least in the UK, two of the country's biggest mobile operators have not been contacted to provide Amazon with a wireless network.

Both Vodafone and O2 told The Daily Telegraph that they did pitch to become network partners for Amazon's Kindle but their respective offers were dismissed. They only learnt about the AT&T partnership yesterday together with the rest of the world.

Vodafone in particular should be miffed because the world's largest mobile phone network has a US joint venture with Verizon and would have been very well placed to provide with a global wireless solution to Amazon.

The wireless, international version of the Kindle was launched yesterday with UK users having to order the device in the US rather than having a UK-centric version.

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We suggested yesterday that Amazon could become a mobile virtual network operator to provide with a reliable network for the Kindle (and incidentally make some serious money).

After all it is one of the biggest names online and the UK market is very receptive to MVNO with Virgin Media, Tesco Mobile and Lebara being some of the most popular brands on the market.

Instead, it seems that AT&T Global Network will be the exclusive partner for Amazon. According to AT&T online fact sheet, the "fully digital voice and data network" covers more than 3.8 billion people in more than 200 countries.