Dell has announced that it's signed a deal with Telefonica to start bringing its new wave of handsets to the operator.

“The demand for pervasive, instant-on, web-connected devices is everywhere,” said Ron Garriques, president, Dell Communication Solutions Group in a statement followed by charming words such as “We are excited to align with Telefónica and leverage our combined strengths to create products and services that provide a simple and seamless experience for our customers."  

While the name Telefonica means little to those outside of Spain, it's the parent company of O2 in the UK suggesting newly announced handsets, the Dell Mini 3i and the Dell Mini 5, could be heading to the UK sometime soon.

A quick phone call to one of our sources on the inside and we've got word that Dell isn't planning on launching the Dell Mini 3 "outside of the Americas any time soon" leaving the Dell Mini 5 to be the one that ventures onto UK shores.

When we asked the status of that handset (ie when's it shipping), we got a silent tone on the other end of the phone.

Of course Dell can't confirm or deny the rumours, or what we are implying officially, but we are reading that it means Brits will be getting the 5-inch "slate" device on O2 sometime soon.  

We will keep you posted.