Deutsche Telekom CEO Says SpaceX Needs $200B to Match US Carriers

Image: Deutsche Telekom / Thomas Ollendorf

Deutsche Telekom chief executive Tim Höttges told reporters on Thursday that SpaceX would need about $200 billion, years of work, and more spectrum to build a U.S. mobile network that matches Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, speaking on the company’s third quarter results day in Bonn.

Speaking through a translator at the press conference, Höttges said SpaceX cannot “walk over water.” He cast the company’s roughly 79 MHz of low- and midband spectrum as a “dirt track” against T-Mobile’s about 400 MHz “autobahn,” according to Light Reading‘s account of the briefing. The $200 billion figure is his rival-CEO estimate of a full terrestrial build, not a SpaceX budget.

SpaceX’s push still has to be treated as real, he argued. “We have to assume that it is coming,” Höttges told reporters, per Reuters, adding that Deutsche Telekom is taking the competition seriously because the newcomer may enter with a different business model.

Investors have already marked the threat, he said. Looking at how much valuation multiples at Verizon, AT&T, and Deutsche Telekom have fallen over the past six months, Höttges said the market expects the three incumbents to earn less on a lasting basis as a new entrant takes share and adds price pressure.

Satellite links alone cannot replace ground networks for cities and indoor coverage, he stressed. Asked whether SpaceX might buy T-Mobile US instead of building, Höttges said Deutsche Telekom has “no interest whatsoever in selling our business,” calling the make-or-buy talk a theoretical aside that is not on the group’s radar.

On a wholesale or MVNO path with Starlink, secondary reports of the same briefing say Höttges struggled to see how that fits Deutsche Telekom’s partnership approach, while CFO Christian Illek said U.S. regulators are not pressing for forced access. Those MVNO lines are not in Deutsche Telekom’s prepared Q3 speech PDF.

That stance lands as SpaceX picks Qualcomm for Starlink Mobile 5G gear, circles tower sites, and is reported talking to Boost Mobile after the big three closed the wholesale door. Verizon CEO Dan Schulman put a similar full-carrier build at $300 billion to $500 billion last month.

Elon Musk framed a similar scale on SpaceX’s October 20 call, saying he sees a clear path to several hundred billion dollars a year in connectivity revenue.

Keep in mind that Höttges’ $200 billion number prices matching today’s U.S. giants, not SpaceX’s own build plan. Do you think Deutsche Telekom is sizing the Starlink Mobile ground fight correctly?