Cricket Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless, has released its first CDMA/AWS handset – the UTStarcom CDM7126. The clamshell handset went on sale in Cricket retail stores throughout Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, in preparation for Leap’s new AWS network launch in the area. Leap is still mum on the details of exactly when the network might launch, saying only that it will be “soon.”

Until then, the UTStarcom CDM7126 also operates on the PCS and cellular networks of Cricket’s markets.

“We are pleased to be the first wireless carrier to offer an AWS wireless phone to our customers,” said Al Moschner, Cricket’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, in a statement. “Taking this leadership position underscores our commitment to fostering product innovation by introducing CDMA’s first tri-band mobile device that enables multimarket use. This introduction marks the successful conclusion of two years of planning and development by UTStarcom and Cricket.”

The AWS handset features external and internal displays, Bluetooth, voice recognition, predictive text input and supports Cricket Mobile Web for browsing the Internet.