There is unconfirmed report out of Madrid via Thomson Financial, states that Telefonica SA’s O2 mobile phone unit has reached some sort of an agreement to become the exclusive network partner for Apple’s iPhone in UK. The source for this report is unnamed, so consider this a rumor until we hear something concrete.

Also, Telefonica will invest around 178 million sterling to launch the iPhone in Britain, and will begin sales ‘shortly’, the newspaper said.

Eager iPhone owners not living in UK, France and Germany must wait until next year, when it will also launch in Asia.