MetroPCS working with ZTE on LTE phones

As the US still waits for Clearwire and Sprint (NYSE: S) to get their 4G WiMAX network up and running on a nationwide scale, the likes of Verizon and MetroPCS are gearing up to light-off their 4G LTE networks in a couple years’ time. But, all that high-speed wireless LTE data won’t do anybody much good without the proper hardware to take advantage of the 4G network. To that end, MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) is working with ZTE to develop new LTE (Long Term Evolution) handsets for the carrier’s LTE launch in 2010.

ZTE is reportedly developing a web-surfing smartphone with a large screen (we’d love to see a touchscreen) and full-HTML web browser as MetroPCS’s headlining LTE handset. The future LTE handset is expected to give ZTE a foothold in the higher-end US smartphone market – a market that ZTE has so far been unable to crack.

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has been chasing the LTE-dream for some time. The No. 1 US wireless carrier recently released LTE specifications, intended to give hardware manufacturers a head-start on developing LTE gear for Verizon’s future LTE network. On the other side of the mobile-coin, we have the much smaller discount wireless carrier, MetroPCS, also gearing up for the jump to LTE. MetroPCS made waves recently by announcing that they’d be joining big-dog Verizon Wireless with an LTE network planned for deployment in 2010 – roughly the same launch-goal that Verizon Wireless has announced for its own LTE network.

Both MetroPCS and ZTE are underdogs in the US market. ZTE even more so when it comes to advanced handsets in the US. But, with this latest partnership, ZTE and MetroPCS are poised to hit the LTE market hard and fast – with LTE offerings that may just undercut Verizon.

[Via: Forbes]