Deutsche Telekom's Logistics Robots and Retail Push Meet a Wall of Analyst Caution

Telekom tested driverless vehicle loading at an Audi site, added Iridium satellite roaming, HBO Max on MagentaTV, and a travel eSIM platform.

Deutsche Telekom has demonstrated a new automated logistics system at a site belonging to automaker Audi, guiding vehicles onto rail wagons and unloading them again without human intervention. The group announced the trial on Thursday, describing the technology as a way to speed up rail freight handling and cut the amount of manual work involved in loading operations.

The exercise fits a broader push by the Bonn-based carrier to grow beyond its core connectivity business. Corporate clients increasingly want tailored networking packages that can monitor supply chains end to end and make factory processes more efficient, and Telekom is positioning itself squarely in that market.

Its IoT subsidiary, Deutsche Telekom IoT, widened its technical reach on 17 September by folding the global Iridium LEO satellite network into its existing roaming portfolio. Combining different network architectures allows mobile assets to be tracked and controlled via satellite even when they sit outside conventional mobile coverage.

New services for consumers, new tools for industry

Consumer-facing moves have come thick and fast as well. On Tuesday, according to media reports, the company added Warner Bros. Discovery's HBO Max streaming service to its German MagentaTV platform, giving customers the option to book the offering directly through the group's own interface.

Travel is another front. Telekom launched T-Travel on 21 September, a global platform for digital SIM cards that lets users buy mobile data packages for more than 200 destinations and activate them straight away on eSIM-capable devices. Two weeks earlier, on 15 September, it rolled out the Product Emissions Calculator, a tool for measuring the CO? footprint of individual products.

On the high street, the group plans 50 new or redesigned shops across Germany next year, with pop-up locations among the formats under consideration, according to media reports. The branch offensive is a response to tough conditions at home: face-to-face advice is meant to help retain existing fixed-line and mobile contracts while winning new market share, even as management keeps building out its digital product range.

Bernstein steps back from its bullish call

Not everyone is cheering. On Friday, Bernstein downgraded the stock from "Outperform" to "Market-Perform" and trimmed its price target to EUR 28.10 from EUR 37.00. The analysts pointed to mounting competition in the German fixed-line market and flagged uncertainty over a possible merger with subsidiary T-Mobile US. Bernstein's US team, for its part, takes a neutral view of T-Mobile US's prospects.

The stock shrugged off the downgrade. It closed Friday's session up 0.5% at EUR 27.09, leaving it 21% below its 52-week high.

Buyback keeps running

Management continues to lean on its own balance sheet to support shareholder value. Under the buyback programme currently in progress, the company repurchased 2,945,800 of its own shares between 14 and 18 September. Since the current tranche began on 10 August, the total bought back has reached 14,005,765 shares.