Chinese mobile device and telecom equipment maker ZTE has announced that the company will launch own branded data cards in India in mid-June this year. ZTE becomes aggressive in Indian soil to tap the end-consumer mobile device market, earlier it announced to launch several smartphones under own brand.
Currently ZTE is the second largest data card seller in the country, but they don't directly sell the data cards, rather it is rebranded by the operators or Indian companies like WinkNet or Beetel. Same model is used for ZTE's mobile phones and WiFi routers.
Initially ZTE will launch 2 data cards under sub-brand SWIFT and will use national distributors, channels partners and online medium to reach mass market. Swift+ will be a 14.4 Mbps 3G/HSPA+ dongle, while Swift will be a 7.2 Mbps 3G/HSPA dongle.
Another China grown company Huawei has its own range of devices in India including smartphones, feature phones, data cards, WiFi enabled data cards and tablets.
In India people like the freedom, hence open market data cards become popular compared to locked dongles from the operators. Huawei, Micromax are getting wide response with such factory unlocked 3G modems. ZTE is going to take a late entry, but better late than never!
