Nokia Siemens Networks has denied that it has supplied web filtering equipment to Iran, although it admits it has sold voice monitoring gear.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the European vendor sold deep packet inspection equipment to Iran, enabling authorities to monitor and block communications.
"If you sell networks, you also, intrinsically, sell the capability to intercept any communication that runs over them," a company spokesman told WSJ.
The WSJ said the sale had been reported last year by an Austrian tech site called Futurezone.
However, NSN said it supplied "lawful intercept" to monitor local voice calls, as defined by ETSI and 3GPP standards.
The company "has not provided any deep packet inspection, web censorship or Internet filtering capability to Iran," NSN said in a statement.
It had provided the national telco TCI with the capability to monitor voice calls on its fixed and mobile networks in the second half of 2008, it said.
"The restricted functionality monitoring center provided by Nokia Siemens Networks in Iran cannot provide data monitoring, internet monitoring, deep packet inspection, international call monitoring or speech recognition."
NSN said it had sold off its intelligence solutions business to a Munich-based investment firm, Perusa Partners, in March.