Telephone Bond

  

Categories: Bonds

Building a telecom company is expensive. There's a lot of equipment involved. In the old days, you had to string thousands of miles of phone lines. Nowadays, you have to build and maintain cell towers...and maybe more wires for that side cable business.

These companies need a lot of money. That's the point. (See: Capital Expenditure. See: WACC.) One way to raise that cash is to issue debt. The term "telephone bonds" is the nickname for the debt securities issued by telecom companies.

It may seem kind of silly that bonds issued by this specific industry get their own nickname. But the high levels of debt involved in building a telecom network make them frequent issuers of bonds.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is the Maturity of a Bond?95 Views

00:00

finance a la shmoop what is the maturity of a bond ?oh come on.

00:08

doorbell bash, and prank phone calls whoopee cushions for the teacher? like how mature [person rings door bell]

00:13

is that ? right well a bond matures when it comes due. that is a company borrows a

00:17

hundred million bucks in 2019 for ten years paying five percent interest or

00:22

five million dollars a year to rent that money along the way, and then 2029 comes

00:27

around and well the bond matures. and lenders have that hundred million [bond is stamped]

00:31

dollars to the company get how much well if the company pays off its bond like it

00:36

promised then that last year 2029 the lenders get a hundred five million

00:41

dollars in that final year -that is they get the five million bucks in interest

00:45

or rent on the money that year and then they get their original principal back.

00:49

just like the person who borrowed it promised what happened that is the bond

00:52

will have matured. so goodbye whoopee cushions, and late night parties in hello

00:57

NPR in a responsible bedtime. [girl snores ]

Up Next

Finance: What are High Yield/Junk Bonds?
19 Views

What are high yield/junk bonds? Junk bonds are called junk for a reason. They are really risky, but because of this risk, they can pay very well. T...

Finance: What are Bond Ratings, and What Do They Mean?
41 Views

What are bond ratings and what do they mean? Bond ratings are just credit ratings used on bonds. Just like a credit rating, they give the investor...

Finance: What is the inverse relationship between interest rates and bond values?
75 Views

The inverse relationship refers to the fact that as interest rates go up, bond prices go down, and vice-versa. Bottom line reason is supply and dem...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)