HONG KONG (Reuters) - ZTE Corp <000063.SZ> <0763.HK> reported a first-half net loss of 7.8 billion yuan (877.41 million pounds) on Thursday, weighed down by a ban on U.S. firms selling parts to the Chinese telecom equipment maker that forced it to cease operations for three months.
The result compared with the 7 billion to 9 billion yuan net loss estimate disclosed last month, and the 2.3 billion yuan profit booked in the same period a year earlier.
Operating revenue in the first half fell 27.0 percent to 39.4 billion yuan.
In June, the network equipment and smartphone maker paid the United States $1.4 billion in penalties in a deal to have the supplier ban lifted. The ban, imposed in April in relation to sanction violations, crippled ZTE and became a source of friction in Sino-U.S. trade talks.
(Reporting by Sijia Jiang and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Edmund Blair)
