Taiwan-based Chunghwa Telecom has reached a final agreement with Apple (AAPL) to be the exclusive supplier of the 3G iPhone in Taiwan and the handsets will begin selling in Taiwan from the end of December 2008.

According to the Chunghwa Telecom, this agreement is a part of Apple's third-phase extension of 3G iPhone around the world and the Chinese mainland will probably be included in this phase eventually. In Apple's second-phase 3G iPhone extension in August 2008, the company enlarged its sales networks by deploying in 21 new countries and regions, including Argentina, Estonia, Slovakia and Uruguay. Because the development of the input method of Chinese characters had not been completed, Chunghwa Telecom reportedly did not sell the first-generation iPhone handsets in Taiwan.

There is another sign which shows that the 3G iPhone will be launched on Chinese mainland soon. According to local media, Apple previously published a job recruitment advertisement on its official website to employee iPhone quality control engineers who will be working in Beijing.