ZTE USA, the American subsidiary of China's ZTE Corporation, has announced the availability of two new handsets for the U.S. market, the ZTE C78 and the ZTE C79 music phone.

The handsets are among the first in the U.S. market to operate on the AWS frequency bands, in addition to the PCS and cellular bands. Carriers who operate on these frequencies can now provide subscribers access to current and next generation voice, data and multimedia applications with ZTE's high quality and affordable multimedia handsets. The C78 and C79 will join the recently announced C88 in ZTE's portfolio of handsets for the U.S. market.

"With the recent availability of the new AWS spectrum, carriers now have the potential to provide expanded wireless services to U.S. customers. Selecting the right device is a key to bringing the benefits of the new spectrum to life for end-users," said Dr. George Sun, CEO of ZTE USA. "Our new handsets allow U.S. carriers, both large and small, to leverage the AWS spectrum and fully profit from their investments in the spectrum."

The C79 is a full-featured and easy-to-use flip phone which includes an MP3 music player, 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, a 2 inch high resolution screen and support for MicroSD removable memory cards. The C78 handset is an affordable phone equipped with a VGA camera and capabilities for multimedia messaging and Internet browsing. It also enables hands-free conversation through wireless headsets supporting Bluetooth.

ZTE both designs and manufactures its handsets in-house.