“Telia has stated that content is an important part of the company’s strategy. In addition, the company already increased its content last year by purchasing the TV rights to the Finnish ice hockey league (Liiga). Strategically, other operators worldwide have also previously made deals with the same content acquisition logic. For example, AT&T made an offer for Warner Bros a couple of years ago (although the competition authority has not yet approved the deal). Among Finnish peers, Elisa also produces its own content, while DNA has at least previously stated that it will not engage in content production.”
It’s a step forward when Telia puts money into circulation and buys content for its 5G network
Elisa’s and Telia’s odds differ wildly, don’t know why Telia isn’t considered a good stock… now I believe in a slight recovery.
I’m not a consumer of entertainment streaming services, but I am for sports. I understand this trend where operators need to expand their portfolio beyond old tricks. However, Telia’s actions are questionable.
I can’t say much about Bonnier specifically, but at least the acquisition of Liiga rights is incomprehensible to me. Maybe they’ve gained some customers with these, but at what cost? Sanoma racked up millions in losses when the annual contract price was 14 million. Telia is putting 23 million on the table, even as the Liiga’s appeal declines.
For me, the final straw was recurring billing issues; I’ve sold my shares, even though the dividend is high. However, my subscriptions remain with Telia due to the housing association.
P.S. C More’s sports section:
Formula 1: cars drive in circles for a couple of hours, Lewis wins. Subscriber numbers are probably much lower than when Räikkönen was racing for Ferrari.
Champions League: subscriptions concentrate in the spring when the playoffs begin.
La Liga: too uneven a league, a few Barca and Real fans subscribe year-round. Most, however, are so young that they look for free streams and let Virkkunen squawk to himself.
That really sucks. I won’t use worse language, but you understand. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than
Telia’s League’s
platform, library, playback, sounds, description, and everything else I couldn’t mention right now
Telia’s website platform, customer service, billing (a million different bills)
Telia’s broadband, Telia TV, Telia TV library, additional services, i.e., the scalability of paid program libraries to the aforementioned service.
And everything I didn’t think to mention.
From a consumer’s perspective, nothing in this world has been as impractical, dysfunctional, and even bordering on a scam business as Telia. The bills are always all over the place.
It’s hard to believe that, in line with megatrends, this kind of customer service would benefit shareholders in the long run.
When the discussion around Huawei was heated at the beginning of the year, the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority stated that it had requested information from Finnish operators about their equipment suppliers and would conduct an overall investigation into the matter. The answers have been received, but according to the authority, they have not been compiled because “the security classification would rise too high”. The operators’ responses have also been classified as confidential.
This probably tells us something… There’s likely still more to investigate.
In February, Elisa’s CEO took a bold stance:
“I don’t even know of any cases worldwide where security problems have been found in Huawei’s devices”, Elisa’s CEO Veli-Matti Mattila told Kauppalehti at the end of January.
However, 5G networks were now discussed at TP-UTVA (President and Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy):
TP-UTVA discussed the international debate and security aspects concerning 5G networks.
Yeah, I wonder why Bonnier sold? Why did Telia buy? Will there come a time when content rises in value? I’m a bit doubtful. I looked at Telia’s 10-year stock performance and it’s dropping like a rock. For the last 4 years, it’s been 4€/share.
Time to sell.
The Swedish state should sell its ownership in Telia, which would allow a larger owner to make better moves for shareholders. Before that, the share price will be stable, but dividends will keep coming in.
Admittedly, it doesn’t seem optimal as a single thing, but Telia now has quite a product range in sports as well. I belong to the group that thinks this merger (and content production) will work to their advantage as a strategy - even if small setbacks from the deal have to be accepted.
I might be asking a silly question now, but how can Telia pay a dividend that is higher than its EPS? Isn’t this a bad thing in the long run, at least for the balance sheet?
Telia has a strong balance sheet, able to pay out the entire EPS and even more.
It’s a wonder how Telia has been stuck below four for years, even though the company is defensive and generates decent results. The share price could easily be five. Compared to Elisa, Telia seems affordable.
My own thoughts:
The result is slightly better than expected - a small positive item from pension liabilities slightly beautifies the figures.
The guidance, in turn, is slightly worse than expected. But this has already been priced into the stock in recent weeks.
There are still some structural problems, and service revenue continues to decline. Not bad at this price, but no shouts of joy either.
Yeah, that’s about right.
I’m disappointed with Telia myself; usually Swedes get things rolling and sort out the bottom line. That hasn’t happened with Telia versus ELISA.
