My iPhone 3GS will not activate following update to iOS 6.0.1

Hi guys,
My mate has just been given a new iPhone 3GS, which is locked to the Vodafone network. He has bought a $2 Vodafone SIM to ensure a smooth transition.
The issue we are having is that following an update of the iPhone to iOS 6, the iPhone would reach a screen where the following error message appears:
"Your iPhone could not be actived because the activation server is temporarily unavailable. Try connecting your iPhone to iTunes to activate it, or try again in a couple of minutes. If the problem persists, contact Apple Support at apple.com/support"
I plugged in the phone to iTunes, and received the following error message
"We are unable to continue with your activation at this time. Please try again later, or contact customer care."
I contacted the carrier, Vodafone, and was sent through various stages of the support team who confirmed what I though: I have to restore the iPhone. I completed the restore, and even upgraded the iPhone to iOS 6.0.1 in the process.
Upon the iPhone restoring itself, the exact same problem reoccurred. My mate is pretty confident that the iPhone has not been jailbroken, so I am seeking the support of someone here in Apple who may have some idea.
Can anybody please offer their assistance regarding this issue? From what I've read of the forums, it would appear that this is not an uncommon occurence, so hopefully somebody knows what the issue is.
Looking forward to hearing a response.
Kris.

LOL! - you poor bugger, Ognyan!
I'm starting to serihously think this phone has been jailbroken... I've got a senior technical support advisor at Apple who is working on the case. He has gone through everything he can possibly think of, but won't take "no" for an answer.
At the moment, he has logged everything with the Engineering Department, who is going to look into it further using the IMEI number and see what they come up with. If worse comes to worse, Apple will apparently replace the phone for a fee. The problem is that it is 800+ days out of warranty...
Anyway, we'll see how we go. If anybody has got any ideas about this, please continue to provide answers. I appreciate all responses

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