Deutsche Telekom Lifts New-Customer Prices While Buyback and Cloudflare Deal Advance

Deutsche Telekom lifts MagentaZuhause and MagentaTV prices for new subscribers, expands fiber, and buys back shares as Bernstein downgrades the stock.

Deutsche Telekom has quietly redrawn the entry price for its German broadband and TV products, with the revised terms taking effect for new subscribers on Thursday. Most MagentaZuhause DSL contracts now carry a monthly premium of one euro, while only the entry-level Basic and Start tiers are spared. New fiber-only connections and the XXL Hybrid option face a two-euro increase to the base fee.

Television pricing moved in step. MagentaTV SmartStream now costs new customers 20 euros a month, up from 17 euros, and bundling a broadband line with the TV package can add as much as 5 euros to the monthly bill for fresh contracts.

Why the Increases Stop at the Front Door

The decision to target new sign-ups rather than the installed base is deliberate. Under German telecommunications law, a one-sided price change during an active minimum contract term generally triggers a special right of termination for consumers. By steering the increases toward new agreements, the Bonn-based group sidesteps a wave of cancellations across its existing subscriber base and protects the revenue already on the books.

Running alongside that consumer-side adjustment, the DAX-listed company is deepening its enterprise footprint. Subsidiary T-Systems struck a partnership with US connectivity and security specialist Cloudflare on Tuesday, under which the IT services arm will market the American partner's security and connectivity solutions to corporate clients across Europe. The arrangement, described by market watchers as a targeted complement to the existing portfolio, goes further than a simple reseller deal: the two groups are directly interlinking their corporate networks in a pan-European cooperation.

Fiber, Green Power and the Buyback Ledger

Network expansion remains capital-hungry. Through an asset deal, Deutsche Telekom secured the fiber infrastructure of Ruhrfibre and Metrofibre in Essen, covering roughly 87,000 households, some of which are still under construction. The lines will be migrated onto the group's own architecture and extended further. The move strengthens an already substantial presence in the city, following the takeover of DOKOM21's fiber network at the end of 2025. Once work is complete, the infrastructure will also be opened to wholesale partners.

On the capital allocation side, the group continues to buy back its own stock. During the trading week from September 21 through September 25, it repurchased 3,292,319 shares. Since the program began on August 10, the cumulative volume has reached 17,298,084 shares. Those steady open-market purchases act as a stabilizing force in a demanding sector environment.

Deutsche Telekom is also widening its consumer offering beyond connectivity. Together with electricity supplier Rabot Energy, it launched three green power tariffs through its own app.

Bernstein Steps Back as the Stock Recovers

Not everyone is convinced by the story. On September 24, Bernstein Research downgraded the stock from "Outperform" to "Market-Perform" and cut its price target to 28.10 euros from 37 euros. The analysis house cited persistent merger uncertainty surrounding US subsidiary T-Mobile US and intensifying competition in the German broadband market as the main drags.

Investors nonetheless ended the week in a buying mood. The DAX title closed Friday at 26.59 euros, a daily gain of 1.9 percent. The recovery leaves plenty of ground to make up: at that level, the shares sit 23 percent below their 52-week high of 34.35 euros.

Attention now turns to the group's capital markets calendar. Deutsche Telekom holds its AI Investor Day on Monday, October 5, spotlighting how artificial intelligence is being deployed across the organization. Media reports point to the next quarterly figures landing on November 5. Investors are likely to scrutinize that interim report closely for signs of how broadband competition and the US business have shaped the latest financial metrics.