In a move that could trigger a trade row between Tokyo and London, the board of International Digital Communications Inc. voted Thursday in favor of a takeover bid by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. over one by Britain's Cable & Wireless PLC.

IDC, an international phone call carrier set up in 1986 by a consortium which includes C&W, said its board recommended that IDC's 140 or so shareholders sell their stocks to NTT.

The decision was reached at a 4 1/2-hour-long extraordinary board meeting during which directors examined takeover bids by NTT, the country's largest telecommunications carrier, and C&W, according to IDC officials.