Only its carrier networks division has failed to register revenue growth for Chinese telco system vendor ZTE, which has just posted an overall 12.4% rise for the first half of 2021 to reach RMB53.07bn ($8.19bn). This is more than any of its immediate rivals and in stark contrast to its big Chinese competitor Huawei, which registered a steep 29.4% year-on-year decline, admittedly from a base six times higher, coming down to RMB320.4bn ($49.4bn). ZTE also outscored Huawei on net profit, up 119.6% year-on-year at RMB4.08bn ($628.4m), against a rise of 3.8% for Huawei. This disparity reflects ZTE suffering far less than Huawei from US restrictions on access to components the country exerts control over, as well as to its markets.…