Sprint signs ZTE for WiMAX data cards

Chinese vendor ZTE USA has entered into a master purchase agreement with Sprint for WiMAX PC cards in express and USB form factors. The deal is a big step toward making WiMAX service available to 100 million people next year, according to the companies.

Barry West, CTO and president of Sprint Nextel's 4G business, recently noted the importance of China in terms of its influence on consumer electronics and WiMAX [1]. The participation of the Chinese is vital given the fact that Sprint's vision revolves around a plethora of WiMAX-enabled consumer devices--such as laptops, portable media players and digital cameras. China, with its vast size, has the power to push prices of these WiMAX-enabled consumer devices down fast to make them attractive enough to consumers without carriers kicking in to pay for them.

For more on the Sprint-ZTE USA deal:
- read this press release [2]