China Unicom investor Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) of Japan is bargaining for favourable terms to take part in the mainland firm's future projects, according to a source.
NTT was one of 45 foreign firms that invested a total of about US$1.4 billion in Unicom through mobile network joint ventures since Unicom was formed in 1994.
Beijing, which bans foreign investment in the telecoms industry, last year declared Unicom's contracts with foreign firms 'irregular' and ordered Unicom to terminate the deals.
Unicom said in August that NTT had cashed out of its contract, which involved a GSM (general systems for mobile) phone network in Hebei.
Sources said NTT had agreed to a pay out equal to the initial cost of investment plus a return of about 7 per cent, the terms Unicom has been offering to all its foreign partners.
But NTT is understood to have since back-tracked on the agreement and is now seeking a 'favourable position' in future Unicom projects in addition to a pay out.
'NTT is looking at [Unicom's] IP [Internet protocol] telephony and broadband network trials,' a source said.
