Is the Telstra share price (ASX:TLS) a buy today?

The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price continues to dwell in the doldrums. Telstra shares are going for $3.12 a share at the time of writing. At that share price, Telstra is up 3.8% year to date, but down 7.5% over the past 12 months, and down a nasty 40% over the past 5 years.

And we won’t even get into the $7-something price tag Telstra’s T2 tranche floated at back in 1999.

So what’s going on with Telstra shares? And (perhaps more importantly), is the Telstra share price a buy today?

Stability comes at a price

As a telco, there is a lot to like about Telstra on paper. It has an extremely robust and inelastic earnings base, given that in this modern age, customers would probably think hard about choosing between…