T-Mobile sold more than 120,000 3G iPhones

People visit the iPhone section ot the Deutsche Telekom AG exhibit during first public day at the CeBIT computer fair in the northern German town of Hanover March 4, 2008.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom's (DTEGn.DE) wireless business T-Mobile has sold more than 120,000 new 3G iPhones since its sales launch on July 11 despite distribution problems, its chief executive told a German weekly magazine.

Hamid Akhavan told Focus, delivery problems that left customers waiting for weeks to get their hands on the new, faster version of the iPhone had been solved and that the backlog would be cleared by the end of the month.

"Our (sales) expectations were surpassed," Akhavan said in an interview to be published on Monday, adding the carrier had sold 75,000 iPhones in Germany alone.

Akahavan said distribution had hit a snag as Apple had decided to launch the iPhone in 22 countries at the same time.

The latest iPhone from Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has faster, third-generation (3G) Web connections when compared with the first iPhone that was launched in mid-2007.

But users around the world have complained about dropped calls and inconsistent Internet speeds, with the phone often reverting to a slower technology known as Edge even in 3G areas.

Last week, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) issued a software update to help fix connection problems that led to a flurry of online complaints from customers.

T-Mobile, which also sells the iPhone in the Netherlands and in Austria, received complaints from Dutch customers but none from German and Austrian ones, Akhavan said.

(Reporting by Nicola Leske; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)