// THE VERGE — MOBILE & WEB
T-Mobile owner on Elon Musk launching a wireless carrier: ‘Welcome to the party’
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Starlink Mobile could cost SpaceX at least $200 billion, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges says.
Starlink Mobile could cost SpaceX at least $200 billion, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges says.
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The head of T-Mobile’s parent company is casting doubt on SpaceX’s plans to make Starlink Mobile a “major” carrier in the US. During an earnings call on Thursday, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges says he takes the Elon Musk-owned company “super serious,” but that it will cost at least $200 billion to pull off:
He [Musk] has now bought 76 megahertz of spectrum. By the way, we have 400. So if you now say he can buy the spectrum prospectively, do your math. These are kind of triple-digit billions which are needed to gain the spectrum position. If he has the money, go for it. Then he has to build a network. I can tell you, we have 85,000 towers. No, he can rent towers, no question. But this is another $20 to $30 billion which are required.
Put antennas on it. You can buy antennas… and you can get [them] maybe even in a cheaper way, or you construct it in a new way, but you need money for that. So therefore, my assessment is that SpaceX at least — if they want to play in that industry — needs at least minimum $200 billion. But even beyond that, to play in an industry which we have, let’s say, professionalized over the last 20 years — okay, welcome to the party.