The Telecompaper Stock Index European Telecoms Services managed to squeeze a minimal gain of 0.1 percent out of week 22, which was relatively light on major news. The EuroStoxx 50 index was down 2.1 percent. The week's winner, Turk Telekom (+11% for the week), and a solid performance from Vodafone (+2.6%) supported our index.
Mobile entrants: Digi, Drillisch and Amazon
There was some diverse networking news, potentially putting pressure on incumbent operators - fixed or mobile.
- Sunrise (+0.7%) and Salt (unlisted) partnered with Swiss Fiber Net (unlisted) to roll out fibre to 2 million homes over the next 5-10 years.
- Digi's (+4.5%) Hungary unit launched mobile services, based on its own mobile network.
- 1&1 Drillisch (-1.0%) and its parent company United Internet (+0.1%) were still going strong in the German 5G auction, paving the way for Drillisch to transition from MVNO to MNO. The total auction bids stand at EUR 6.1 billion.
- Deutsche Telekoms's (+0.3%) T-Mobile US unit was confronted with the Justice Department's new demands (according to Bloomberg) for obtaining approval for the merger with Sprint. The two may be forced to sell assets to help create a new fourth mobile operator. Amazon, according to Reuters, would be interested - in line with longstanding rumours of the company wanting to become a (virtual) mobile operator.
YTD: new low for Tele Columbus
Tele Columbus is the worst performing stock in our index in the year-to-date view, down 54 percent. It's followed by 1&1 Drillisch (-39%) and Telefonica Deutschland (-27%), both pressured by the German auction mentioned above. Sunrise is down 20 percent year-to-date on the acquisition of UPC Switzerland, which is regarded as expensive by some.
The YTD winners include Gamma Communications (+64%) and Altice Europe (+62%).
