It makes me wonder about the quality of the board.. why the board thinks the management is worth that much... and what the other C-levels/senior executives are getting paid at. It seems really high for an emerging market country executives. I live in Asia (similar GDP per capita), and the TIGO executives are earning a lot higher comp while running a smaller operation. Maybe I am wrong, but telco companies aren't the most complex industry to run... they have to have someone internal that is capable of running and willing to take a much cheaper compensation package.
It's a difficult industry. If you want something similar maybe even cheaper(EV/EBITDA 3.2x), look no further than Digi Communications (Digi Ro-bbg ticker). Problems here: dual share class, CAPEX intensive. Present in Romania (no 1 in fiber, challenger in mobile), Spain (mobile, data), Italy (small). They just sold Hungarian ops at a very good valuation. Digi was listed in 2017, flat from that point.
Great write up. Thanks! I like the management team a lot. I have 2 questions:
How do you think about the terminal value of cable these days? Liberty Global is seen as a melting ice cube and Charter is not adding subscribers anymore. I believe both is due to fiber competition. Could TIGO run into the same problem down the road?
How do you see the corruption and regulatory risk? The ex-partner in Guatemala was the former telco minister. Why shouldn't regulation revert towards something similar in Europe or the US with 3 to 4 player markets on the mobile side?
its been a bumpy ride for most foreign telcos, so i feel that early investors who had been paying attention 'deserve' whatever the turnout from oversubscribing. the clincher was to invest using u.s. dollar around a peak.
and yes, the unfortunate comparison to liberty is overcompensation. hopefully never zaslav-level obscene.
Thank you for the write up! It seems like a decent opportunity with the future spin-offs.
I didn't realize the management pay is that high for a much smaller company than companies like T and VZ. https://www.fiercewireless.com/special-report/25-highest-paid-execs-wireless-telecom-2019
It makes me wonder about the quality of the board.. why the board thinks the management is worth that much... and what the other C-levels/senior executives are getting paid at. It seems really high for an emerging market country executives. I live in Asia (similar GDP per capita), and the TIGO executives are earning a lot higher comp while running a smaller operation. Maybe I am wrong, but telco companies aren't the most complex industry to run... they have to have someone internal that is capable of running and willing to take a much cheaper compensation package.
It's a difficult industry. If you want something similar maybe even cheaper(EV/EBITDA 3.2x), look no further than Digi Communications (Digi Ro-bbg ticker). Problems here: dual share class, CAPEX intensive. Present in Romania (no 1 in fiber, challenger in mobile), Spain (mobile, data), Italy (small). They just sold Hungarian ops at a very good valuation. Digi was listed in 2017, flat from that point.
Great write up. Thanks! I like the management team a lot. I have 2 questions:
How do you think about the terminal value of cable these days? Liberty Global is seen as a melting ice cube and Charter is not adding subscribers anymore. I believe both is due to fiber competition. Could TIGO run into the same problem down the road?
How do you see the corruption and regulatory risk? The ex-partner in Guatemala was the former telco minister. Why shouldn't regulation revert towards something similar in Europe or the US with 3 to 4 player markets on the mobile side?
its been a bumpy ride for most foreign telcos, so i feel that early investors who had been paying attention 'deserve' whatever the turnout from oversubscribing. the clincher was to invest using u.s. dollar around a peak.
and yes, the unfortunate comparison to liberty is overcompensation. hopefully never zaslav-level obscene.
I have been looking at Tigo for a while but struggle to answer why the share price performance has been so bad since listing.