Deutsche Telekom Accelerates €2bn Buyback as T-Mobile Merger Talk Intensifies Ahead of Q1 Report

Deutsche Telekom buys back €45M in shares in early May, signaling confidence. Stock near 52-week low as Q1 results and T-Mobile merger speculation loom.

The Bonn-based telecoms group is making the most of its own share price weakness. Deutsche Telekom snapped up 1.6 million of its own shares in the first week of May alone, spending roughly €45 million at an average price of €27.43 per share. Since the buyback programme launched in early April, the company has already bought back more than seven million shares, channelling a small slice of the up to €2 billion it plans to deploy over the course of fiscal 2026.

The stock itself has had a rough month. Monday’s session saw the shares nudge up 1.17% to €27.73, but that does little to mask a decline of nearly 11% over the past 30 days. At Monday lunchtime, the price had edged back to €27.63, still well adrift of the 50-day moving average of €30.59 and hovering near the 52-week low. The board’s decision to accelerate repurchases in this environment sends an unmistakable signal: management views the current valuation as attractive.

The buyback is not merely a confidence gesture. It is designed to repair the damage from the 2021 capital increase, when Deutsche Telekom acquired additional T-Mobile US shares from Japan’s SoftBank, diluting existing holders. The current programme is gradually reversing that effect, with a smaller portion of the repurchased stock earmarked for employee and executive compensation schemes.

Quarterly check-up arrives on Wednesday

Investors will get their next operational reality check on 13 May, when the company publishes its first-quarter results. The press conference is scheduled for 10:00 CET and the market will be watching two things closely: the reaffirmation of full-year guidance and any fresh colour on the strategic outlook for the US subsidiary.

For 2026, the group targets an adjusted EBITDA of €47.4 billion and free cash flow approaching €20 billion. Analysts, on consensus, expect adjusted earnings per share of €2.17 for the full year. A quarter that lands in line with those projections would reinforce the narrative of operational stability. Any weakness in the outlook, however, could reignite debate about whether the stock is cheap for a reason.

The T-Mobile elephant in the room

The real weight behind the Telekom story sits in America. T-Mobile US generated service revenues of $18.8 billion in the first quarter, an 11% year-on-year increase. The subsidiary now accounts for more than 70% of Deutsche Telekom’s market capitalisation, and the parent retains a 53% stake.

That structural dominance is why a Bloomberg report about a potential full-scale merger has electrified the stock. The rumoured structure would involve a holding company issuing shares for the equity of both entities, creating a telecoms behemoth with a combined market value north of $384 billion — the world’s largest by that measure.

But any such deal would be far from straightforward. The German government, through state-owned KfW, holds approximately 28% of Deutsche Telekom. Berlin’s blessing cannot be taken for granted, and the discussions are described as preliminary. Deutsche Telekom itself has declined to comment.

What the numbers say about the sum of the parts

Wednesday’s report offers the market a chance to weigh the operational counterweight to the merger speculation. Robust US figures and steady guidance could take some of the pressure off the stock. Conversely, a disappointing outlook would not dispel the merger talk — it would simply add another layer of concern.

For now, the buyback programme provides a steady floor. Management is effectively saying the shares are cheap enough to buy, even as the market weighs geopolitical complexity across the Atlantic and the usual quarterly suspense. The next few days will show whether the operating story can deliver the same conviction.