ZTE main operations reportedly cease due to U.S. ban
After receiving a ban last month from using any US made products for the next seven years ZTE, China’s second biggest telecom equipment maker, says it is stopping operations. This according to Reuters.
The ban came after ZTE has already paid a $900 million fine, fired several employees for violating trade embargoes, but failed to discipline or slap a note approximately 50 employees files. Really, that’s all they would have had to have done.
As ZTE requires parts from Qualcomm and Intel (both US companies,) for roughly a third of the components used, their only options are to scramble for other non-US suppliers.
ZTE has requested a suspension of the ban, however in the meantime it has suspended sales in it’s online stores and shut down main business operations as there’s nothing legally they can probably sell.
What’s more interesting is ZTE owners may not be able to receive any future updates for Android through official channels as, well, they’re banned from touching it, and may also be banned from warranty support.
Over the past month about 12% of the phones in the US suddenly became untouchable.
[Reuters]
