Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile unit will start selling a mobile phone using Google Inc.'s Android software in the fourth quarter, offering an alternative to handsets made by Apple Inc. and Research in Motion Ltd.

The introduction, announced by T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer Hamid Akhavan at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, is still going according to plan, said Maika-Alexander Stangenberg, a spokesman at Bonn-based T-Mobile.

The New York Times reported T-Mobile USA will be the first carrier of Google's mobile phone, to be made by HTC Corp., citing people briefed on the company's plans. Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest phone company, said last month sales of the new iPhone, which runs on so-called third-generation networks, beat its targets. Complaints about poor reception and disconnected calls have since appeared on Web sites and blogs for Apple users.

Stangenberg wouldn't comment on the report. T-Mobile sells smartphones made by HTC under its own brand. The Taoyuan, Taiwan- based company is a member of the Open Handset Alliance developing the Android platform.

The Android phone may be announced in September, depending on how quickly the Federal Communications Commission certifies that the software and phone meet network standards, the New York Times said. It will probably go on sale in the U.S. as early as October, according to the report.

`Testing the Platform'

``To prepare for Android's public launch, we are testing the platform on a variety of devices,'' Erin Fors, a spokeswoman at Google, wrote by e-mail. ``We have nothing to announce at this time.''

Technology blogs have discussed a new model called HTC Dream being the world's first Android phone.

Cheng Hui-ming, a spokesman for Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC Corp., and Maggie Cheng, a company spokeswoman, didn't answer calls made to their offices today.

HTC President Peter Chou on Aug. 4 reiterated a forecast for the company's first phone equipped with Google's operating system to go on sale in the fourth quarter, without providing further details.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andreas Hippin in Frankfurt at ahippin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 15, 2008 09:26 EDT