I "cojones" delle telecom europee nella critica che ne fa il Light Reading a commento degli outlook di KPN, Deutsche Telekom, Telekom Austria, che tutte si sono date obiettivi di stabilità nel 2009 per l'andamento del business, come se la crisi in essere non le toccasse.
La tesi sostenuta: ma siamo proprio sicuri che il comparto risulterà alla fine tanto difensivo come i suoi players sostengono che sia ?
Euro Carriers Grow Cojones
JANUARY 29, 2009http://www.lightreading.com/boards/...d_link_text=Euro+Carriers+Grow+<i>Cojones</i>Europe's national telcos have been putting on a very brave face this week, boasting about subscriber uptake, shareholder returns, M&A possibilities, and network investments.
Basically, they all say "Pah!" (in a continental accent) to the current economic downturn
Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE:
DT) announced today it had kicked some Germanic butt in 2008, adding millions to its mobile, broadband and video services customer bases in multiple territories.
Its
T-Mobile International AG business added 7.6 million new customers to its books last year, taking the total in Europe and the U.S. to 128.3 million. (See
T-Mobile USA Has 32.8M Subs.)
Perhaps most impressive, though, is its IPTV story. After a less than encouraging start, DT set itself what looked like a very tough target of reaching 500,000 IPTV customers (in terms of orders received) in Germany by the end of 2008, having started the year with only 150,000. (See
Deutsche Telekom Relights Its IPTV Fire .)
According to the German giant it hit that target by the end of the year, and added quite a few extra in its satellite operations around Central and Eastern Europe: DT says it ended 2008 with 220,000 IPTV customers in Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovakia combined. We'll drink some schnapps to that!
And there's plenty of room left for growth in Germany, where the incumbent boasts 10.6 million retail DSL customers, giving it a market share of 46 percent.
DT's neighbor
Telekom Austria AG (NYSE:
TKA; Vienna: TKA) is also in fighting form.
Its CFO Hans Tschuden told analysts at the carrier's Capital Markets Day in Vienna today that "against the backdrop of rising uncertainty and negative sentiment on the international financial markets we reiterate our commitment to maintaining a balance between shareholder remuneration and further growth investments in opportunistic and value-accretive projects." (See
Telekom Austria Updates on Strategy .)
Sounds confident, doesn't he? But what does it mean? Well, among a sea of figures, Tschuden and his CEO Boris Nemsic basically stated that the carrier's strategy of building a mini empire in Eastern Europe and paring costs at home has been paying off big time, and that during the current four-year period (2009-2012) the operator expects to generate €3.2 billion in cash, of which €1.35 billion will be handed out to shareholders in the form of dividends. (See
Telekom Austria Cuts Jobs,
Telekom Austria Buys MDC Stake,
TA Launches Vip, and
Telekom Austria Plans Expansion.)
A further €1.75 billion will be used for "growth investments in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and share buybacks," the carrier stated in a strategy document released today.
The rest of the money will be spent on sweet white wine and schnitzels. Maybe.
One thing the TA crew is not planning to spend more on, though, is capital expenditure. It's on course to spend about €800 million in capex in this year, and plans to stick to that number for 2009 and 2010. It's worth noting here that there are some smart brains in the technology team at Telekom Austria who are looking at ways to increase the carrier's competitive edge while increasing efficiencies using some of the latest OSS systems on the market. (See
Telcos Soften Up.)
Dutch courage is the order of the day at
KPN Telecom NV (NYSE:
KPN), which this week announced its fourth-quarter and full-year results. The highlight (for KPN at least) was the reversal in its EBITDA (earnings before bits and bobs) trend, which had been on the decline. (See
KPN Reports Q4.)
What we like, though, is that the KPN team has the
ballens to announce it can confirm its 2010 outlook, which includes a ramp in revenues from 2008's €14.6 billion to more than €15 billion, an increase (relative to 2008) in EBITDA of nearly 9 percent to €5.5 billion, and even a slight increase in capex by 2010, when spending is set to hit €2 billion.
2010? EuroBites hardly wants to think about what might happen at the supermarket checkout this weekend, let alone predict any kind of financial well-being next year, so it's clogs off to the team at KPN.
That increase in capex, by the way, is possibly linked to the carrier's fiber access rollout plans, which, although in their early stages only at present, are set to help make The Netherlands one of the most broadband-wealthy nations in the world.
Uitstekend! (See
Dutch Hold Back on FTTH Frenzy and
KPN, Reggefiber JV Approved.)