ZTE Confirms Details of Telenor Ethics Breaches

China's ZTE has reported to the news that Telenor has blocked the firm from any network tenders for breaching its ethical policy by confirming that a breach did occur - but only one employee was involved.

"This situation between Telenor and ZTE has arisen because of the actions of a single employee in a ZTE subsidiary, acting on his own behalf," ZTE said in a written response to the Reuters news agency, adding that "the individual concerned has been disciplined and we are reviewing possible legal action."

Telenor has come under pressure to boost its ethical standards following an apparently unrelated issue in Bangladesh with a 3rd party supplier.

Yesterday, Telenor announced that it would ban ZTE for a period of six months from participating in any tenders. On the same day though, ZTE announced the win of a US$400 million contract with Aircel - a subsidiary of Malaysia's Maxis.

Earlier this year, ZTE denied bribing Philippine officials over a large broadband landline contract, which has engulfed various members of the government. The contract was canceled by President Arroyo following mounting pressure over the corruption allegations. Following the scandal, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippines' president, ordered a halt to large infrastructure projects which rely on funding from Chinese companies.

On the web: Reuters

Posted to the site on 14th October 2008