Investopedia: Does AT&T Have Global Ambitions?

Monday is often the day for deals and rumors, and a doozy in the telecom market quickly made the rounds. Depending upon which reports you believe, AT&T (NYSE:T) either made a bid for Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) and was rebuffed by the Spanish government, or no such approach was ever made. In either case, it is not altogether surprising that AT&T would be entertaining global ambitions, and Telefonica is certainly a business that could be worth quite a bit more if cleaned up and improved. By the same token, this is not the only potential asset that could appeal to AT&T.

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Seeking Alpha: MTN Group - A High-Quality Play On Africa's Potential

Africa really is the dark continent when it comes to investment options for American investors. While there are growing stock exchanges across the continent, there are few cross-listings in the United States and few liquid ADRs. While direct investment is always an option for the especially brave and ETFs like Market Vectors Africa (NYSE: AFK) or S&P Emerging Middle East & Africa (NYSE: GAF), I would suggest risk-tolerant investors take a look at MTN Group (Nasdaq: MTNOY.PK). Not only is MTN Group a well-run company in its own right, it's a potential direct beneficiary of rising incomes and standards of living across Africa.

The Basics
What MTN Group does is not very complicated. MTN is the dominant wireless service provider in much of Africa. It is an African version of Verizon (NYSE: VZ), America Movil (NYSE: AMX), or Vodafone (NYSE: VOD). MTN Group is presently licensed to operate in 21 countries and is further authorized to offer internet services in 13 countries.

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MTN Group: A High-Quality Play On Africa's Potential

Investopedia: VimpelCom Looking To Join The Big Leagues

Mergers and acquisitions are in vogue in the mobile phone world, and not just with AT&T's (NYSE:T) acquisition of Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile. Companies around the globe are shuffling their decks and Russia's VimpelCom (NYSE:VIP) has been among the most active. Once the dust clears, this company looks to be one of the largest operators in the world, and a decent way for retail investors to play emerging markets with few publicly-traded companies of their own. 

A Mixed Close to the Year  

VimpelCom posted 22% revenue growth in the final quarter of the year, beating the average analyst estimate. Growth was helped by higher subscriber counts and improved usage stats in the company's peripheral operating areas (CIS, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and so on), growth that more than offset flatter (albeit still positive) performance in Russia and Ukraine.
Profitability was more mixed. VimpelCom reported OIBDA (similar to EBITDA) growth of 15% and overall profitability was a bit below the average expectations. The company also significantly ramped up its capital spending in the back half of the year as part of its overall plan to regain market share in its core markets. 

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