Deutsche Telekom Keeps Foot on the Pedal With Buybacks as Analysts Split on T-Mobile US Overhang

Deutsche Telekom repurchased 17.3M shares since 10 August, while Bernstein downgraded the stock and Berenberg kept its buy rating.

Deutsche Telekom is showing no sign of easing off its share repurchase programme, even as the investment community wrestles with questions about the group's long-term ownership of T-Mobile US. Between 21 and 25 September, the Bonn-based carrier bought back a further 3,292,319 of its own shares. Since the programme kicked off on 10 August, the company has retired a total of 17,298,084 shares from the market — a steady drip-feed designed to shrink the outstanding share count over time.

The buyback runs in parallel with an infrastructure push that management has framed as the backbone of its next phase of growth. On the mobile side, 115 new sites went live across Germany in August, while capacity was expanded at 401 existing masts. Roughly half of the group's own mobile locations have now been upgraded, and more than 80% of those are already connected via direct fibre lines. Network traffic, by the company's own reckoning, is climbing at around 30% a year.

Gigabit ambitions and a fibre shopping spree

To stay ahead of that curve, Deutsche Telekom is targeting download speeds of one gigabit per second per cell at 90% of its sites. The fixed-line business is advancing in tandem: 222,000 additional fibre connections were built in August, lifting the total reach to 14.1 million households and businesses capable of signing up for tariffs of up to 2,000 Mbit/s.

Growth is also being pursued through acquisitions and new retail concepts. The DAX-listed group agreed an asset deal to take over the fibre infrastructure of ruhrfibre Essen and Metrofibre, though the transaction has yet to close. On the distribution front, 50 flexible shop formats are planned nationwide by 2027, part of an effort to keep face-to-face advice relevant. Away from the network itself, Deutsche Telekom struck a strategic partnership with Cloudflare on Tuesday covering security and connectivity solutions for European enterprise customers, and on 25 September it locked up exclusive rights to the Basketball Champions League for the 2026/27 season.

Bernstein steps back, Berenberg stays bullish

Opinion on the stock remains far from unanimous. Bernstein Research downgraded Deutsche Telekom from "Outperform" to "Market-Perform" on 25 September, cutting its price target to EUR 28.10 from EUR 37. The broker pointed to uncertainty over a possible full takeover of T-Mobile US and intensifying competition in the German broadband market. Under Bernstein's modelling, buying out the minority shareholders at a 20% premium could dilute Deutsche Telekom investors by around 11%. Analyst Ulrich Rathe also weighed in on speculation that Brussels might soften its timetable for swapping out Huawei and ZTE network components.

Berenberg, by contrast, reaffirmed its buy rating with a target of EUR 35.20. The shares closed Friday at EUR 26.59, a gain of 1.9% on the day, though they remain well below their 52-week high of EUR 34.35 and are down 4.3% since the start of the year.

AI day on the horizon

Attention now turns to the group's AI Investor Day on 5 October, to be held in Bonn and streamed live between 12:00 and 18:00. Third-quarter results for 2026 are scheduled for release on 5 November.