Apple and America Movil announced they have signed a deal to bring the iPhone to more than a dozen Latin American countries. The carrier said it plans to offer Apple’s handset across all of its Latin American operations starting later this year, but didn’t give any other details of the arrangement.

Apple also recently announced deals to offer its only handset with Rogers Communications in Canada; Telecom Italia in Italy; and Vodafone Group in 10 countries, including Australia, India, Italy and Turkey. Based on its report for the quarter ending March 31, Apple has sold 5.4 million iPhones worldwide so far; the company stands firm with its goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of this year.

New reports are emerging that China Mobile is in place to buy Millicom International Cellular (MIC), after South African operator MTN yesterday announced a surprise agreement to acquire Dubai based telecoms investor Investcom for $5.53bn (ВЈ3bn).

As a result of the agreement MTN’s subscriber base would increase to 28.1 million across 21 countries, making it the second biggest mobile operator in the region, behind Egypt’s Orascom Telecom.

Investcom also said it had withdrawn its offer to buy MIC, which has been on sale since January. The news will come as a blow to MIC, with reports indicating Investcom had tabled a leading $5bn offer for the company.

Other bidders in the running for MIC are believed to have placed offers well under $5bn, and China Mobile has been named as a bidding party once again, despite denying interest.

Late last month, the leading Chinese operator denied that it, or its parent, had made a bid for MIC.

Other interested parties are thought to be Egypt’s Orascom, Kuwait’s MTC, Norway’s Telenor and Mexico’s America Movil.

Leading Chinese operator, China Mobile, on Thursday rebuked reports that it has tabled a $4bn (ВЈ2.2bn) bid for Millicom International Cellular (MIC).

The buzz was generated by a report in the Financial Times on Wednesday, which put China Mobile in the frame but did not name sources.

The deadline for the second round of bids for Millicom is expected to expire in the next few days, after the company’s call for acquisition offers in January.

The most likely bidders in the second round are thought to be Egypt’s Orascom, Dubai’s Investcom, Kuwait’s MTC, Norway’s Telenor and Mexico’s America Movil. Vodafone is believed to have lost interest in Millicom.

The China Mobile spokesman did confirm that the operator is looking to acquire assets in emerging markets.

Millicom has operations in Southeast and south Asia, Central America, South America and Africa.