Telekom's Record-Breaking World Cup and AI Bet Can't Break the Stock's Slide
Published on 06/18/2026 at 20:44 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The numbers are eye-catching: 36 million viewers in a single week, a doubling of pay-TV subscriptions versus the last major tournament, and a sprawling artificial intelligence pact that will automate supply chains for 140,000 companies. Yet Deutsche Telekom shares have shed roughly 4% over the past seven days, hovering near €27.00 and now more than a fifth below their 52-week high of €34.35. The disconnect between operational fireworks and market indifference has rarely been wider.
On the industrial side, T-Systems has struck a wide-ranging partnership with the procurement platform SupplyOn. Together they plan to use Telekom's new industry cloud — powered by 10,000 Nvidia high-performance chips in a Munich data centre — to automate the supply chains of more than 140,000 firms worldwide. T-Systems chief Ferri Abolhassan argues that artificial intelligence is set to become the operating system of the economy. Complementing the deal, the European AI model "Soofi S" has been launched, trained specifically on German-language data.
Consumer-facing operations are enjoying their own moment in the sun. MagentaTV pulled in more than 36 million viewers during the first week of the World Cup, with the exclusive clash between France and Senegal peaking at 6.5 million fans. Arnim Butzen, the head of the TV division, described it as the strongest opening week in the service's history, with pay-TV subscriptions more than doubling compared to the 2024 European Championship. Network infrastructure handled the surge without a hitch.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Deutsche Telekom?
Yet the stock is struggling to find a floor. The immediate headwind comes from the United States. Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh warned on Wednesday that inflation could remain stubbornly high, dampening hopes for rate cuts and pressuring rate-sensitive sectors across the Atlantic. European telecoms are also suffering from a broader sectoral weakness, compounded by profit-taking and the growing threat from satellite internet. Telekom has been cooperating with Starlink since March 2026 to close coverage gaps in Europe, but the market has yet to reward that move.
Technical indicators reflect the strain. The shares are now trading at 26.95 euros, just 3.69% above the 52-week low of 25.99 euros. The 50-day moving average sits at 28.32 euros, and the 14-day Relative Strength Index has fallen to 34.8 — territory that hints at oversold conditions but offers no guarantee of a bounce.
Analysts remain upbeat despite the weak price action, pencilling in an average price target of 38.61 euros. Whether that optimism is justified will become clearer on 6 August, when Telekom releases its second-quarter results. The board is targeting adjusted operating earnings of around 47.5 billion euros for the full year, and the record World Cup viewership will need to translate into concrete profit growth — especially in the domestic German business, which came under scrutiny after a solid first-quarter revenue increase.
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