Regulatory Burdens And Competition Will Limit Telecom Prospects

Key Takeaways

• Heightened regulatory costs, aggressive competition, and rapid technology shifts will pressure margins and profitability, constraining Tele2's earnings and shareholder returns.
  
• Demographic stagnation and OTT disruption cap organic growth, with structural revenue declines expected as traditional services lose relevance.
  
• Streamlined operations, strong Baltic growth, in-house customer focus, targeted 5G investment, and financial discipline are positioning Tele2 for higher profitability and future expansion.

Catalysts

Provides fixed and mobile connectivity and entertainment services in Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

• The prospect of heightened regulatory pressure and slow-moving reforms in key Swedish broadband and fiber access markets could result in persistent compliance costs and unfavourable wholesale price developments for Tele2. This would likely weigh on both net margins and squeeze future earnings potential.
  
• Slower population growth and potential demographic decline across the Nordic and Baltic regions present a structural ceiling to Tele2's organic revenue expansion, with an increasingly saturated customer base hampering long-term top-line growth.
  
• Capital intensity remains high, with heavy capex requirements for completing 5G rollout and fiber upgrades pegged at a double-digit share of revenue for 2025. This sustained network investment is expected to constrain free cash flow and could increase leverage, undermining returns to shareholders and limiting future earnings growth.
  
• Aggressive price competition in open fiber network areas and from emerging low-cost disruptors will erode pricing power, compelling Tele2 to rely on price adjustments instead of true ARPU growth. This dynamic risks compressing net margins and deteriorating overall profitability in a market with muted underlying demand.
  
• The growing impact of OTT services and alternative communications platforms continues to erode traditional telecom revenue streams, with Tele2 facing persistent headwinds in defending service revenues-particularly as migration from linear TV and content unbundling accelerates structural revenue declines ahead.

Tele2 Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• This narrative explores a more pessimistic perspective on Tele2 compared to the consensus, based on a Fair Value that aligns with the bearish cohort of analysts.
• The bearish analysts are assuming Tele2's revenue will decrease by 0.5% annually over the next 3 years.
• The bearish analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 14.0% today to 14.3% in 3 years time.
• The bearish analysts expect earnings to reach SEK 4.3 billion (and earnings per share of SEK 6.22) by about July 2028, up from SEK 4.2 billion today. The analysts are largely in agreement about this estimate.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the price target of the more bearish analyst cohort, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 19.9x on those 2028 earnings, down from 25.2x today. This future PE is lower than the current PE for the GB Wireless Telecom industry at 25.3x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to grow by 0.17% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 4.91%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Tele2 Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Tele2's ongoing transformation program, driven by workforce reductions, operational simplification, and aggressive contract renegotiations, has enabled a significant expansion in margins and equity free cash flow; continuation of this cost control focus could support higher profitability and earnings in the medium to long term.
  
• Sustained and accelerating end-user service revenue growth in the Baltics, supported by successful price adjustments and postpaid migration, has led to robust top-line growth and double-digit EBITDAaL increases, suggesting long-term strength in a key market for Tele2's revenues and earnings base.
  
• Tele2 is successfully shifting more customer acquisition to in-house channels, reducing its reliance on third-party distributors, which could both lower churn rates and improve customer loyalty, potentially supporting higher recurring revenue and improved ARPU over time.
  
• The company's ongoing and substantial 5G network investment, prioritized through targeted CapEx strategies, positions Tele2 to capture new high-value business opportunities around IoT and advanced B2B solutions, which may deliver incremental revenue and margin expansion in future years.
  
• Tele2's strong balance sheet, reduced leverage, and disciplined capital structure provide capacity for either renewed shareholder returns or opportunistic M&A, which could further enhance revenue growth or drive additional earnings accretion in the long run.

Valuation

• The assumed bearish price target for Tele2 is SEK106.47, which represents two standard deviations below the consensus price target of SEK146.51. This valuation is based on what can be assumed as the expectations of Tele2's future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors from analysts on the more bearish end of the spectrum.
• However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of SEK190.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just SEK102.0.
• In order for you to agree with the bearish analysts, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be SEK30.1 billion, earnings will come to SEK4.3 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 19.9x, assuming you use a discount rate of 4.9%.
• Given the current share price of SEK150.75, the bearish analyst price target of SEK106.47 is 41.6% lower. Despite analysts expecting the underlying buisness to improve, they seem to believe the market's expectations are too high.
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.