ZTE Corp, China’s second-largest telecoms equipment maker, has ceased its business relations with Iran after a US investigation into alleged sales of embargoed equipment to Telecommunication Company of Iran capable of monitoring telephone and Internet communications, the company’s Chairman Hou Weigui revealed in an interview with Reuters. Hou said the compensation ZTE had to pay to clients in Iran for breaking contracts, and the fact that it had to halt some shipments even after equipment had been manufactured, were the main reasons for the company’s first-ever reported annual loss of CNY2.84 billion (USD460.1 million) in 2012.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, ZTE distributed goods from Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Dell in Iran, although US-based networking equipment company Cisco terminated its long-standing sales partnership with the Chinese vendor in 2012 following the allegations.