Cellnex Telecom: 2Q26 keys: strong execution and positioning

Research evidence excerpt

Cellnex Telecom: 2Q26 keys: strong execution and positioning

part of which was an addition of several hundred new

PoPs. Vodafone Spain then closed a similar but larger deal with American Tower

which sparked a debate as to whether the carrier is taking steps to exit its Vantage

Tower MSA which we believe could lead to the consolidation of the fragmented

Spanish tower market (link). See Clarifying implications of the Zegona agreement

for detail. Separately, Cellnex closed a deal to supply battery backup services on

3.8k Telefonica sites as part of new Spanish resilience laws, and management

believes similar regulation could develop elsewhere.

Other markets: Following a series of MSA renewals, Cellnex also signed a new

BTS program with Sunrise in Switzerland for 300 sites, to be deployed over 5-years

starting 2027. Management notes the currently slow execution of network

improvements in the UK but expects things to pick up in 2027 and estimates,

based on internal network simulations, that the country needs at least several

thousand new sites. In this context, we note yesterday's FT analysis on the poor

quality of UK's mobile networks (link).

Shareholder returns: Cellnex launched another €200m buyback, to be complete

by YE26, which will bring total 2026 shareholder returns to last year's level of

€1bn. Management maintains that dividends will grow by 7.5% next year from

the current €500m base and believes that the company's shares are severely

undervalued hence why buybacks are the preferred option currently. The company

will cancel 18.3m shares in 2H26 based on the already completed buybacks, which

will take share count down by c2.7%.

Satellites: The company provided a very useful overview of data in support of its