Top 5 Telecom Companies To Invest In 2014

LinkAmerica founder Andr茅s Ruzo

(Fortune) Andr茅s Ruzo isn't your average immigrant entrepreneur. The son of a culinary TV personage in Peru, he came to the U.S. as a college student in 1980 and says he attempted 17 startups before creating his big success: LinkAmerica, which provides logistical and service support to tech and telecom companies. LinkAmerica is actually in its second incarnation; the first, which sold refurbished telecom equipment, nearly went under after the dotcom bust and 9/11. Last year the company generated $180 million in revenues, and Ruzo, 53, has become a classic example of entrepreneurial invention and reinvention ... and reinvention. He says he still views himself as an immigrant -- always hungry and never taking anything for granted. His story:

I grew up in Lima, Peru, and come from a well-known family. My mother [Teresa Ocampo] had a cooking show on TV. She was the Julia Child of Peru. When I was 7, a military coup caused great instability in the country. So when it was time for college, in 1980, I came to the U.S. to study industrial engineering at Texas A&M University. I came with two bags and a dream -- to have a future with stability, security, and success in America.

Top 10 Stocks To Watch Right Now: Orange SA (ORAN)

Orange SA, formerly France Telecom S.A., incorporated on December 31, 1996, is an European mobile operator, an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) Internet access provider in Europe, and telecommunications services provider for multinational businesses under the Orange Business Services brand. As of December 31, 2010, France Telecom provided services to 209 million customers, of which 150 million were mobile phone customers and 13.7 million were broadband Internet customers, and as of June 30, 2011, provided services to 217.3 million customers. It offers its individual customers, businesses and other telecommunications operators a line of services covering fixed and mobile communications, data transmission, the Internet and multimedia, and other services. The Company�� segments include France, Poland, Spain, Rest of the World, Business Communication Services, International Carriers and Shared Services.

France

The range of services in the Home segment in France is made up of fixed-line telephony services; other consumer services; online, Internet access, and multimedia services; advertising-management and Internet portal business; content-related business, and carrier services. France Telecom�� traditional fixed-line telephony services provide access to the network, local and long-distance telephone communication services throughout France, and international calls. In addition, France Telecom offers its fixed-line telephony subscribers a broad range of value-added services. The France Telecom Group has a number of portals, including Orange.fr, which is either Web- or mobile-accessible. In December 2010, its audience reached 22.5 million, and Voila.fr and Cityvox (entertainment and leisure listing site in France) in its different formats, such as Cityvox.fr, Cinefil.com, Spectacles.fr, Concert.fr and WebCity.fr. The primary revenue source is online advertising sold by the Orange Advertising Network. This advertising management department sells advertising space for ab! out 20 third-party sites, both Web and mobile.

Orange�� offers are built around three product lines: postpaid, prepaid and convergent offers. Orange offers two categories of prepaid offer, to which calls are charged by the second from the first second: The Mobicarte, includes a range of recharges from 5 to 100 euros and Orange Initial, which enables the customer to be billed monthly depending on his or her actual consumption. Orange also has a number of offers that pair mobile use and mobile Internet access with all-in-one offers, including both the hardware and an Internet access plan. The USB 3G+ plans enable connection to the Internet via the mobile broadband network or the Orange public wireless fidelity (WiFi) network from a laptop computer, multimedia mobile phone or a tablet personal computer.

The Company competes with SFR-Neuf Cegetel, Free, Bouygues Telecom, Numericable, Google and Voila.

Poland

Orange (the brand under which the TP Group subsidiary, PTK Centertel trades) had a total of 14.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2010. In April 2010, PTK Centertel introduced segmented postpaid offers for residential customers. Depending on the usage profile, customers can choose from three types of tariff plans: Dolphin tariffs for frequent users of voice services, Pelican for customers focused on text and community Web-services, and Panther for users of mobile data services (Internet, email). The mobile broadband Internet customer base (Edge and 3G data services) reached 547,000 customers during 2010. In 2010, Orange introduced a SIM-only mobile Internet offer and a portfolio of terminals dedicated to the Orange Free offer.

The Company competes with Netia, Multimedia Polska, Aster and Hyperion.

Spain

Orange Espana, operating under Orange, Ya.com and OBS (Enterprise) brands offers fixed and mobile telecommunication services to more than 13 million customers in the residential, professional, business and who! lesale se! gments. Orange Espana�� physical distribution network consists in 2,922 points of presence, including Orange own shops, franchises, specialized shops under the Orange brand, non exclusive specialized shops, and a network of retailers. Orange Espana also distributes its services through distance selling channels, and its own online portal. Orange Espana fixed access infrastructure, based on its own optic fiber network and ADSL roll-out, enables delivery of advanced telecommunication services, including broadband Internet access, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), internet protocol television (IPTV), television (TV) streaming, video on demand (VOD) and advanced business services.

The Company competes with Telefonica, ONO, Vodafone and Jazztel.

Rest of the world

The France Telecom Group is present in Luxembourg via Orange S.A. (formerly VOXmobile), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mobistar. The Luxembourg subsidiary, VOXmobile, was renamed Orange S.A. in October 2009. During the year ended December 31, 2010, Orange S.A. had 88,900 active mobile telephony customers.

The Company competes with Proximus, Mobistar, Base, ex-Mobifon, Telefonica O2, Deutsche Telekom, Swisscom, Sunrise, Moldtelecom, Starnet, ECMS, Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat U.A.E.

Enterprise Communications Services

The Orange Business Services brand covers both the Enterprise Communication Services (ECS) unit, which supplies communications services to multinational companies and corporate accounts and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in France and Orange subsidiaries Business-to-Business (B2B) activities.

Orange Business Services covers the Company�� business customers in more than 160 countries and regions where it provides local technical and commercial assistance. This business segment includes a number of subsidiaries, including Etrali (trading solutions), Almerys (health), Orange Consulting (project management, telecom consulting), Multimedia Business Se! rvices (m! ultimedia contact centers), Neocles (virtualization solutions), IT&Labs (design and development of embedded Machine-to-Machine applications, vehicle fleet management), Obiane and Telecom System (secure network integration), Alsy (integration services), EGT (equipment and services for video conferences), and GlobeCast (multimedia broadcast systems).

The Company competes with IBM, HP, Microsoft and Cisco.

The Company competes with COLT Telecom, Numericable-Completel, BT Global Services, AT&T Business Services, Verizon Business, T-Systems, Reliance Globalcom, Tata Communications, Belgacom Group, NextiraOne, Spie Communication, NTT Group, IBM Global Services, HP Enterprise Services, Atos Origin, Salesforce and Amazon.

International Carriers and Shared Services

Orange�� International Carriers activity is based on long-distance network infrastructure and offers a range of solutions on the international market. The Company is involved in the design, construction and operation of submarine cables. The Company�� wholesale activity includes a worldwide network with over 120 presence points and 130,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable; a worldwide network of Internet protocol (IP) routes with end users in over 220 countries and connections to over 250 Internet service providers and a hit rate of over 85% for all European net surfers. France Telecom�� network has over 330 direct routes and interconnections with over 359 operators, and coverage in over 900 destinations with around-the-clock technical support. Its range of solutions includes interconnection, interoperability and signaling solutions for messaging, voice and video telephony services and the Orange Roaming Hub (Global eXchange) solution for moving from a bilateral model to a multilateral roaming system.

France Telecom has developed activities related to its core business line, such as content broadcasting, audience and advertising, and also healthcare activities. Orange offers free a! nd paying! content on its own channels, paid program packages, Video On Demand, music and game offers. Orange distributes content provided by third parties (television, games, music) on fixed-line and mobile networks both inside and outside France. Orange also produces its own channels: Orange Sport and Orange Cinema�� five different channels. Studio 37, is a subsidiary for investing in cinematographic rights, through both co-production and the acquisition of catalogue rights. During the year ended December 32, 2010, Studio 37 supported the launch of 15 films, including the Gainsbourg and Fatal. The Viaccess group, a France Telecom subsidiary, offers access solutions to television content. Orange is present in the games market through the games it sells on the orange.fr portal (Casual Games dedicated to family type games, such as breakout clones or riddles). Orange Healthcare, is the Company�� healthcare division, focused on developing service packages for the whole sector within a partnership approach.

The Company competes with Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Telia Sonera and AT&T.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, French telecommunications giant France Telecom (NYSE: ORAN  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

• [By Barel Karsan]

  About a year ago, Orange (ORAN) was brought up on this site as a potential value investment. (Back then, we knew it as France Telecom (FTE).) Sentiment was in the toilet. A weak European economy combined with new regulations and an upstart competitor scared investors away, resulting in price to free cash flow ratios in the single digits. But these are exactly the conditions under which investors should be buying. When temporary issues (and there were a trifecta here!) affect a historically profitable business in an industry with barriers to entry, it can create a buying opportunity if investors are running scared. That appears to have been what happened here. The regulatory issues eased up as did the competitive environment, and shares of Orange have risen 60% to what I would consider a more appropriate valuation. Some of the comments I received when I wrote the article last year include: "FTE will end, but I think it has more than enough strength to limp on for another decade at least, dragging on yield hungry investors that don't know any better." "Lets not look at the horrible French economy" "worsening unemployment" "government that loves to socialize, ruin their private businesses" "It's been in decline year after year after year." Such macro-economic, backward-looking forecasts have no place in value investing! Go against the crowd.Disclosure: No position

Top 5 Telecom Companies To Invest In 2014: Telecom Argentina SA (TEO)

Telecom Argentina SA (Telecom) is an Argentina-based company primarily engaged in the provision of national fixed-line telecommunication services, international long-distance service, data transmission and Internet services and mobile telephony. The Company also offers such solutions as online business and Web hosting, virtual private network (VPN), mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft and Blackberry, toll-free telephone numbers, call centers and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) line, as well as other services mainly aimed at corporate clients. The Company�� subsidiaries are structured in two business segments: Fixed Telephony, comprising Telecom Argentina USA Inc and Micro Sistemas Sociedad Anonima, and Mobile Services, including Telecom Personal SA, Nucleo SA and Springville SA. As of December 31, 2010, the Company�� majority shareholder was Nortel SA, 54.74% of its interest.

Voice, Data and Internet

Telecom Argentina owns a local telephone line network, public long-distance telephone transmission facilities and a data transmission network in the Northern Region. Telecom Argentina also owns a network in the Southern Region. Voice, data and Internet services consists of basic telephone services, international long-distance services, data transmission and internet services, information and communication technology services and other basic telephone services. Telecom Argentina provides basic telephone services, including local and domestic long-distance telephone services and public telephone services. Telecom Argentina provides international telecommunications service in Argentina, including voice and data services and international point-to-point leased circuits.

Telecom Argentina provides data transmission and Internet connectivity services, including traditional dial-up and broadband connections, asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) dedicated lines, private networks, national and international broadcasting signal transport and videoconfe! rencing services. Telecom Argentina provides Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services and value-added solutions. Other services provided by Telecom Argentina include supplementary services, such as call waiting, call forwarding, conference calls, caller identification (ID), voice mail, video calls and itemized billing, and telecommunications consulting and telecommunications equipment and maintenance services.

Telecom Argentina is a provider of Basic telephone services in the Northern Region and provides Basic telephone services in the Southern Region. Telecom Argentina�� fixed-line telephone network includes installed telephones and switchboards, a network of access lines connecting customers to exchanges and trunk lines connecting exchanges and long-distance transmission equipment.

The Company competes with Grupo Telmex Argentina, Telephone2, Impsat, IPlan, Comsat, Telecentro, Telefonica, Netizen, Gigared, UOL, Ertach, Telecentro and Cablevision.

Wireless Telecommunication

Telecom Argentina provides wireless services through its subsidiaries in Argentina and Paraguay. Its subsidiary Telecom Personal S.A. (Telecom Personal) provides wireless telephone service throughout Argentina via cellular and personal communications service (PCS) networks. Telecom Personal�� service offerings include global system for mobile communications (GSM) and 3G wireless communication over universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS)/high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) networks (including general packet radio service (GPRS), enhanced data for GSM evolution (EDGE) and HSDPA high-speed wireless, videoconferencing, full track download, multimedia messaging, online streaming, corporate mailing and BlackBerry solutions) and sale of wireless communication devices (cellular phones, 3G modems, 3G hotspots, wireless Internet and netbooks). The Company also provides cellular and PCS services in Paraguay through Nucleo S.A., a subsidiary of Telecom Pers! onal.

The Company competes with Telecom Personal, Telefonica Moviles, America Movil, Telefonica Celular del Paraguay S.A. and Hola Paraguay S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Telecommunications services sector was the leading decliner in the US market today. Telecommunications services stocks dropped 0.43% in today's trading. Among the stocks, Mobile Telesystems OJSC (NYSE: MBT) was down more than 4.8%, while Telecom Argentina SA (NYSE: TEO) tumbled around 2.5%.

• [By John Reese, Founder and CEO, Validea.com And Validea Capital Management]

  As you might imagine, the portfolio will tread into areas of the market others ignore, because of its contrarian bent. Right now, its holdings include some very unloved firms, including several financials, emerging market stocks, and much-maligned BP. Here's a look at five of the stock in our Dreman portfolio:

  Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM)
  
  BP Plc (BP)
  
  Telecom Argentina SA (TEO)
  
  China Mobile Limited (CHL)
  
  Vale SA (VALE)
  
  

  Subscribe to Validea here��/P>

• [By Garrett Cook]

  In trading on Monday, telecommunications services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.48 percent. Top losers in the sector included Telecom Argentina SA (NYSE: TEO), down 6.57 percent, and NQ Mobile (NYSE: NQ), off 6.69 percent.

• [By Garrett Cook]

  In trading on Monday, telecommunications services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.48 percent. Top losers in the sector included Telecom Argentina SA (NYSE: TEO), down 6.1 percent, and NQ Mobile (NYSE: NQ), off 6.8 percent.

Top 5 Telecom Companies To Invest In 2014: Sprint Corp (S&LS)

Sprint Corporation, incorporated on May 10, 2012, offers a range of wireless and wireline communications services to consumers, businesses and government users. On July 10, 2013, the Company, SoftBank Corp. and Sprint Nextel Corporation (Sprint Nextel) completed the merger. In the Merger, Sprint Corporation was merged into Sprint Nextel, New Sprint became the parent company of Sprint Nextel, with Sprint Nextel becoming its direct wholly owned subsidiary, and Sprint Nextel changed its name to Sprint Communications, Inc.

The Company develops, engineers and deploys technologies, including the first wireless fourth generation (4G) service from a national carrier in the United States; offering mobile data services, prepaid brands, including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities, and a global Tier 1 Internet Service. The Company also offers unlimited data services.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Since Wilmers & Co. took over M&T Bank in 1983 the bank has acquired 23 banks and Savings and Loans (S&Ls) ��expanding from a single state to seven ��and assets have grown from $2 billion to $110 billion. M&T's branch count has grown from 60 to over 870. The bank currently boasts a customer base of over 2 million retail household customers and nearly 220,000 commercial customers.

Top 5 Telecom Companies To Invest In 2014: BCE Inc. (BCE)

BCE Inc. provides communications solutions to residential, business, and wholesale customers primarily in Canada. The company offers local and long distance telephone services under the Bell Home Phone brand; direct-to-home satellite television (TV) services under the Bell TV name; Internet protocol TV services under the Bell Fibe TV brand; and personal video recorders and online access services. It also provides data services, including Internet access services under the Bell Internet name; Internet protocol based services; and information and communications technology solutions. In addition, the company engages in the rental, sale, and maintenance of business terminal equipment; sale of TV set-top boxes; and provision of network installation and maintenance services for third parties. Further, it offers wireless voice and data communications products and services, such as call display and voicemail, e-mail, Web browsing, social networking, text, picture and video messagi ng, music downloads, ring tunes, ringtones, games and applications, video streaming, live TV, mobile Internet, roaming, and global positioning system navigation services under the Bell and Virgin Mobile brands. Additionally, the company provides media services comprising TV programming services to broadcast distributors. It operates approximately 28 conventional over-the-air stations and 30 English and French-language specialty TV channels; 33 FM and AM radio stations and their related Websites; and Theloop.ca Website. As of December 31, 2012, the company served approximately 2.1 million high-speed Internet access customers through fiber-optic, digital subscriber line, or wireless broadband technology; and 7.7 million wireless customers. BCE Inc. offers its services through call centre representatives, independent dealer stores, and value-added resellers, as well as through its Websites. The company was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Verdun, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  The economy is also expected to recover quickly from the storm's devastation, making Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (NYSE: PHI) more attractive to long-term investors than other communications firms such as BCE (NYSE: BCE), AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ).