Telecoms Lower Ahead of Verizon Earnings -- Telecoms Roundup

Shares of telecommunications companies fell ahead of Verizon Communications' earnings Thursday.

Verizon's results should give a clearer picture on the impact of streaming-service competition on the pay-television business. Warnings on the subject from Comcast and AT&T were skewed by those companies' exposure to hurricane-hit Texas and Florida, areas where Verizon doesn't sell television service.

A series of European spectrum auctions is likely to result in billions of euros of spending by carriers, according to one brokerage. "The Italian government ... is reported to be looking to raise 3.25 billion euro for the spectrum," said analysts at brokerage Credit Suisse, in a research note. "This follows reports that the German government is also starting planning its next spectrum auction. German government Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced the plan in August, saying he expected payments in the 'tens of billions of euros'." While both governments may be optimistic in their outlook for the auctions, the statements "highlight an underlying industry trend of a pick-up in spectrum auction activity in 2018," the Credit Suisse analysts said.

Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2017 17:32 ET (21:32 GMT)