Telefonica Clinch GSM Palm Pre?

According to Spanish media, carrier giant Telefonica has grabbed the all-important Palm Pre exclusivity deal in Spain, the United Kingdom and Latin America.  If the reports – currently unconfirmed by either Palm or Telefonica – are true, that would see the carrier's UK subsidiary O2 selling the Pre alongside the iPhone 3G.

O2 has been Apple's UK partner since the launch of the first iPhone, and is currently the only UK network on which the 3G version of the smartphone is available.  Early suspicions pegged Vodafone as the most likely candidate for clinching the Pre deal, and indeed the GSM handsets Palm demonstrated at Mobile World Congress last month were running Vodafone SIMs.  At the time Palm told us these were simply the first available cards they could buy and solely for use at the show; this now looks as though it was actually the case.

The Palm Pre would go on sale in Spain under Telefonica and in Latin America through the Movistar brand.  Latin America uses the 850MHz and 1900MHz 3G bands, as does the US and Canada, raising the possibility that 3G GSM handsets could be officially or unofficially sold in those regions alongside the CDMA Sprint version.

[via My Pre]