Three of China’s state-owned carriers – China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), China Mobile Limited and China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd (China Unicom) – had committed funding as members of the consortium, which also included U.S.-based Microsoft Corp and French telecom firm Orange SA, according to six people involved in the deal.
China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and Orange did not respond to requests for comment.
China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom were resolutely behind HMN Tech, which had come in with a bid of around $500 million.
China Telecom and China Mobile threatened to walk off the project, taking tens of millions of dollars of investment with them.
Among them is China Telecom, which had previously won authorization to provide services in the United States.