After Huawei, ZTE faces troubles in Iran telecom market

Telecom Lead Middle East: ZTE said it will reduce its
business in Iran following a report that it had sold a surveillance system
capable of monitoring telephone and Internet communications to Iran’s largest
telecom firm. Huawei, ZTE’s main rival in China, had also faced issues in the
Iranian telecom market.

 

According to a Reuters report, ZTE had signed a 98.6
million euro contract with the Telecommunication Co of Iran in December 2010
that included the surveillance system.

 

A ZTE spokesperson said the company had decided some time
ago to shrink its business in Iran.

 

Despite a longtime U.S. sales ban on tech products to
Iran, ZTE’s Packing List for the contract, dated July 24, 2011, included
American hardware and software products.

 

The U.S makers of those products include Microsoft,
Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Dell, Juniper Networks and Symantec.

 

Several other major equipment makers previously have
announced they were going to cut back their business there. They include
European firms Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei.

 

TCI is owned by the Iranian government and a private
consortium with reported ties to Iran’s elite special-forces unit, the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps. The company has a near monopoly on Iran’s landline
telephone services, and much of Iran’s internet traffic is required to flow
through its network.

 

U.S. intelligence probe will assist Huawei and ZTE to prove
themselves

 

U.S. legislators’ probe into Huawei and ZTE is likely to
assist these two Chinese telecom firms to prove their points to the entire
telecom world.

 

The U.S. House intelligence committee’s probe is
happening amid growing concerns over cyber espionage. The investigation would
look into whether the expansion of these firms in the U.S. posed a security
threat. Both Huawei and ZTE can prove
themselves if the U.S. House intelligence committee gives a clean chit to them.
The result of the U.S. probe can also become a benchmark for the telecom
industry.

 

Huawei feels the heat in Iran telecom market

 

In 2011, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), an
independent agency, urged Huawei to end its business in Iran. UANI alleges that
Huawei provides Iranian regime with cellular and electronic technology that it
has used to conduct surveillance on its citizens, and track down human rights
activists and dissidents.

 

editor@telecomlead.com

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