The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price has had a roller coaster of a month in April. Much like a roller coaster, it had its ups and its downs, but it pretty much ended up in the same place it started.
Between the close of trade on 31 March and the time of writing just moments before Friday's close, the telecom's share price dropped only 0.88% or 3 cents. However, over the month, it reached an 8-month high, dipped and then finally plateaued compared to the beginning of the month. At the same time, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) increased by around 3.4%.
Here are a few of the major stories that impacted the Telstra share price over the last month.
The big stories driving the Telstra share price
Restructuring tailwinds
As mentioned, Telstra shares rose to an 8-month high in early April. As Motley Fool reported at the time, the most likely reason for this was continued momentum from Telstra's proposed restructuring.
The company said it plans to reorganise its operations into four entities under the umbrella group. InfraCo Fixed will own and operate Telstra ducts, fibre, data centres, and exchanges. InfraCo Towers will own and operate its mobile tower assets and ServeCo will own the radio access network and spectrum assets.
The final asset will be its international arm, which will also own its undersea cables. The company will then look to offload its tower business, which was arguably the main impetus for Telstra share price rise.
Overseas ambitions
On 16 April, it was reported the telco had been in talks with a private equity firm to further expand overseas.
At the time, it was reported that Telstra had held "advanced talks" with I Squared Capital and PCCW Global of Hong Kong to merge its international division with the subsidiary of Hong Kong Telecom. Telstra and I Squared planned to launch a bid for PCCW together and then run the company as a joint venture. It was not clear at the time if the talks were ongoing. This is still the case. After this story broke, the Telstra share price dipped.
Speeding away with 5G
Telstra describes itself as having "Australia's largest 5G network". But its mobile data coverage came into focus this month, with some speculating as to whether the Telstra share price could run any higher.
Telstra CEO, Andrew Penn, said the company's $277 million investment in boosting its capacity in capital cities was an important future investment.
mmWave spectrum [for 5G] is especially good at providing high-speed mobile broadband in high-density areas, such as built-up cities and towns, train stations, sports stadiums and other locations with a high concentration of people using their mobile devices.
Telstra share price snapshot
While the Telstra share price has had a relatively flat April, it has increased by around 13% over the last 12 months. Since the beginning of this calendar year, it's also appreciated by around 12%.
Just this week, Telstra shares were highlighted by a fund manager as a relatively safe investment in case of future inflation and higher interest rates.
The company has a current market capitalisation of around $40.3 billion.
