Investors may have worried more about the general market last week, with a 2.9 percent fall in the Euro Stoxx 50 index, than about the European telecoms sector, which lost only 1.3 percent in week 36. Tele Columbus (-22%) and Altice (-15%) were the biggest losers, and Montenegro's Crnogorski Telekom (+8.1%) the biggest winner. Of the index heavyweights, Deutsche Telekom (-2.3%) lost and Vodafone (+0.5%) booked a small gain.
Italy
Iliad (-3.6%) reported half-year results and was forced to lower its guidance. Still, the Italian business keeps moving forward, reaching 2 million subscribers on the first two offers launched by Iliad IT. A third offer again comes at a somewhat higher price, but with a larger data allowance. CK Hutchison's (-0.7%) Wind Tre produced a new offering, which can still be related to Iliad's market entry. Meanwhile, Vivendi complained aloud about having lost control of TIM (-3.6%) to activist shareholder Elliott Advisers, blaming its dismal stock market performance on Elliott's management. Indeed, TIM's share price is at a long-time low and its year-to-date performance (-27%) is weak, to say the least.
In fact, TIM is the weakest incumbent in our European telecoms index, apart from Turk Telekom (-47%), on a YTD basis. However, several more incumbents have a similar performance YTD (Proximus -26%, KPN -24%, Orange Poland -22%). And most of all, it has to be kept in mind that the Italian market came under pressure after the entry of Iliad on the mobile market.
Speculation
Tele Columbus also published semi-annual results, after having had to postpone its report a few weeks ago. The stock hit a new low and its YTD performance (-72%) is the weakest of the stocks in our index. This obviously creates room for speculation about the company's future, but its management vows to remain independent. Over in Switzerland, recent weakness in the performance of UPC Switzerland prompted Liberty Global (-0.6%) to openly speculate about the prospects of market consolidation. The most obvious candidates could be Sunrise (+0.5%) and Salt (unlisted).
Satellite
The satellite sector, which is particularly 'hot' this year among investors, showed that there still is a place for satellite-based communication in today's world. Inmarsat (-5.5% but +4.8% YTD) unveiled an IoT solution for the shipping industry. And Eutelsat (+0.1%, YTD +5.8%) launched a new hybrid content delivery platform for operators, combining satellite and internet content delivery. This year's absolute outperformer remains Intelsat (YTD +547%), followed at quite some distance by Iridium (YTD +82%).
