U.S. ban on China's ZTE lifted

By Karen Freifeld

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Commerce on Friday lifted a ban on U.S. companies selling goods to ZTE Corp, allowing China's second-largest telecommunications equipment maker to resume business.

The Commerce Department had said it would remove the ban after ZTE paid a $1 billion penalty and placed $400 million in a U.S. bank escrow account as part of a settlement reached last month.

The company was no longer on the Commerce Department's "denied persons list" as of Friday.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld)