Ericsson AB said it expects to pay $1 billion to resolve investigations by U.S. authorities into business ethics breaches in six countries, including China, in one of the costliest corruption cases on record.

The Sweden-based telecommunications equipment maker said in a statement Thursday it has made a provision of 12 billion kronor ($1.2 billion) to cover the penalty, and this will dent third-quarter earnings. Ericsson said it can't comment on details of the process with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice.

Ericsson has cooperated with investigators since 2013, when the SEC began its probe into possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations. It hasn't disclosed details of the ethics breaches under investigation, though it said at the time that the probe related to a payment system used to win contracts in the 1990s. It said Thursday that the investigation covers a period ending in the first quarter of 2017 and involves FCPA breaches in China, Djibouti, Indonesia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.