SK Telecom sells its China Unicom stake

South Korean operator SK Telecom sold its 3.8 percent stake in China Unicom back to the Chinese operator for an estimated $1.3 billion. China Unicom said it will fund the repurchase from its cash flow and working capital or a combination of outside funding. The Korean company invested in China Unicom in 2006 and paid about $1 billion for bonds in the company. The two firms planned to cooperate on CDMA. However, since that time China Unicom has been ordered by the government to split off its CDMA business to China Telecom in order to focus on its GSM/WCDMA network. Article