Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD), Samsung Corp. and Etisalat get the party started in today's roundup of telecom headlines from the EMEA region.

One-time charges saw Vodafone's profits fall 8.7 percent year-on-year in its full-year financials, despite revenues increasing 3.2 percent on the back of strong growth outside Europe and the mobile data explosion. Looking to the future, Vodafone has announced its intention to deepen its relationship with U.S. giant Verizon Wireless, in which it holds a 45 percent stake. (See Vodafone Deepens Ties With Verizon and Vodafone Reports Full Year.)

Samsung has created a new U.K.-based organization, the ENO (Europe Network Operation, not the English National Opera), in an effort to win Long Term Evolution (LTE) network infrastructure business in the region. The South Korean vendor today unveiled its Smart LTE offering at the LTE World Summit in Amsterdam. (See Samsung Expands Euro Activities and Ericsson, Samsung, Verizon Try VoLTE.)

Some good news for Etisalat, the former state monopoly in the United Arab Emirates, reports Reuters. The regulator there has said it will reduce the amount of royalties that the operator has to pay the government -- though it hasn't said when this will happen. Currently Etisalat pays around half of its profits in royalties to the government. (See Euronews: March 21 and The UAE's Fiber-Filled Future.)

Wananchi Group , the Kenya-based broadband and VoIP provider, has secured $57.5 million from various international investors to fund the rollout of a satellite pay-TV service in ten East African countries, reports Reuters Africa. (See Scrambling for Africa, M&A-Style.)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading