Vodafone is entering its new fiscal year with a simpler and leaner business. It sold its assets in Spain and Italy back in 2024, and is now repositioning itself as a market leader in the UK with the acquisition of its co-owner’s shares, CK Hutchison, to take full control of VodafoneThree. The group’s European revenues increased by 9.9% year-on-year for Q1 (+8.4% for their total fiscal year FY2026 that closed in March), which is the fastest revenue increase across all major reporting telecommunications groups in Europe. Orange’s revenues in Europe progressed by 1.9% year-on-year. Two significant moves are impacting European financial figures for the group: the full consolidation of MasOrange with the acquisition of its co-owner’s shares (MasMovil) during H126, and the recently announced acquisition of 27% of SFR (Altice) assets in France. At Q2, Orange will reclaim its leader position in European telecommunications (temporarily challenged by Deutsche Telekom when excluding the Spanish JV) following the MasMovil consolidation and the integration of 4 million mobile customers and 1 million fixed broadband customers from SFR. Deutsche Telekom is also starting the year with strong metrics: it saw a modest revenue growth of +1.7% but a +3.5% EBITDA increase in European markets year-on-year, bringing its EBITDA over revenues ratio to 44.6%, well above the regional average of 35%. Q1 also marked a significant CAPEX decrease (from 18.9% over revenues for Q1 2025 to just 13.9% for Q1 2026), highlighting the end of an investment cycle in its operational markets: 5G and fiber build programs in Germany are reaching maturity levels. At Q1, the group reported 24.5 million premises passed with optical fiber across Europe (up by 3.6 million year-on-year), out of which 13 million in Germany alone. DT’s 5G coverage already reached 99% in Germany at Q1, and 92% in other European markets. Iliad saw a +2.9% revenue growth in Q1 2026 year-on-year. It has rapidly stepped up the rank of leading telecom groups in Europe and currently stands as the fourth largest in volume of both mobile and fixed broadband customers, and it is set to significantly increase its footprint following SFR’s asset acquisition. Iliad plans to acquire the low-cost brand RED, which serves around 6 million mobile customers, along with 1.6 million fixed consumer subscribers and 400k small business customers. Swisscom’s Q1 2026 results were "in line with expectations", reaching a key milestone with the legal merger of Fastweb and Vodafone Italia in January. Synergies totalled €77 million in Q1 alone, and the group is on track to deliver the €300 million synergy target for full-year 2026. Overall, the average ratio of CAPEX over revenues for the 19 major European groups highlighted in the chart above decreased from 19.3% at...
