Ericsson and ZTE have provided statements following reports that the EC iis to investigate whether Chinese telecoms vendors are benefiting from state subsidies to "dump" telco equipment at below cost within the 27 member states of the EU.
As Mobile Europe's original article reported, this is a tricky area for the European vendors, who don't appear to have much appetite to be seen lining up on one side of a trade battle against a key export market.
Ericsson calls for open and fair export financing, and for the EU bodies to join international efforts to establish internatiobnal guidelines. It's a statement that leaves room for an interpretation that it does desire greater clarity over export guarantees – but it makes it clear it wants to see that from all parties and in no way mentions the Chinese vendors, or even the supposed EC investigation.
ZTE's statement answers the main charge in its final sentence, and also makes mention of its status as a listed company, as it tends to do when challenged over any possible issues of corporate governance. (Huawei is privately owned)
In the interests of fairness, please note that Ericsson did respond to our request for comment on Monday evening this week – which was just too late for our initial publicaiton. We have held its statement over for this follow-up. Here is Ericsson's statement:
“Ericsson, the global leader in the mobile communications business, believes trade differences should be discussed and handled in a spirit of mutual respect and equality.
Officially supported export credits play an important role in the global telecoms equipment market, often required by buyers. To ensure non-discriminatory global competition it is therefore key that Governments of telecom vendor countries fully align their export credit regimes to international norms, primarily the WTO rules and the OECD Consensus Agreement.
Our policy is for open, free and unrestricted trade and global supply chains, benefitting end-users and societies. The recent agreement between USA and China to seek to establish truly international guidelines on the provision of official export financing is a welcome step.
Ericsson encourages also other Governments, including the European Union, to join this international effort to secure a legislation that does not harm European industry sectors including telecoms, competitiveness, consumers and society. Otherwise there is a risk that Europe’s trade relationship with a major trading partner is damaged.”
ZTE also provided the following statement:
"We are aware of the recent media report mention that the EU is preparing to start a trade case against ZTE and Huawei, however we have not been contacted by any authority about this. As a public company listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges, ZTE is committed to transparent operations and being in full conformity with trading regulations of the WTO and local markets. Moreover, ZTE has been successful in global markets with its innovative design, quality service and its ability to customise products for clients at short notice. ZTE receives no illegal or hidden subsidies, nor does it dump products in any markets where it operates."