Deutsche Telekom chief executive Timotheus Höttges used a company webcast on Monday to question whether SpaceX’s Starlink Mobile can mount a serious challenge to established US wireless networks. Reporting the remarks on 15 October, Yahoo Finance said Höttges told listeners that SpaceX would first have to match the 85,000 mobile antennas his group operates in America, and that SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk still has “many, many” hurdles to overcome.
Key facts
- Höttges spoke on Monday during a webcast held by Deutsche Telekom, the German telecoms group that owns a majority stake in US carrier T-Mobile US, according to Yahoo Finance.
- He asked, in the one line Yahoo Finance quotes directly: “Why should I have to make calls over a satellite network when I can already get good coverage, or the best coverage, today?”
- His comments follow SpaceX’s agreement to acquire up to 14 MHz of nationwide 800 MHz spectrum, the same outlet reports.
- Musk has called that purchase the “last critical piece” needed for complete US phone coverage, per Yahoo Finance.
- SpaceX says its next-generation satellites will deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of its current system, Yahoo Finance reports.
- Deutsche Telekom plans to launch Starlink satellite-to-mobile service in several European markets in 2028, according to Yahoo Finance.
Why it matters
The exchange sets out the two competing pitches for satellite phone service. SpaceX, as described on its own website and relayed by Yahoo Finance, is positioning Starlink Mobile as a network that works indoors, outdoors and in cellular dead zones, combining satellites with terrestrial infrastructure. Höttges, by contrast, frames satellites as worth paying for only where towers cannot reach — and says the ground build-out is the expensive part SpaceX has yet to do.
For customers, that argument decides both Starlink availability and Starlink price in the mobile market: whether direct-to-device coverage keeps arriving as a cheap add-on bolted onto an existing carrier plan, the way T-Satellite is sold today, or as a standalone service SpaceX must price against networks that have already paid for 85,000 antennas. Neither source gives a tariff for Starlink Mobile.
He is not the only executive on the T-Mobile side of the argument putting a number on what Starlink Mobile would still need; a separate costing has been reported in T-Mobile CFO: Starlink Mobile Needs 1 Billion Femtocells.
The spectrum deal that moved telecom shares
The spectrum agreement rattled incumbent carriers before Höttges spoke. German financial news site FinanzNachrichten.de, carrying a dpa-AFX report dated 9 October, said Deutsche Telekom was the biggest pre-market faller in the Dax that Friday, down about five percent on the Tradegate platform, while T-Mobile US shares lost the equivalent of seven percent against the previous Nasdaq close.
The same report said shares in AT&T, the US telecoms group, fell 6.6 percent after hours and Verizon Communications lost 5.7 percent, while shares in SpaceX gained a good three percent on Tradegate on the Friday morning. A trader cited by dpa-AFX attributed the losses to the SpaceX deal, saying Musk’s company had bought low-band spectrum licences and wants to become a nationwide mobile provider using them together with its Starlink satellites, which from the incumbents’ point of view would sharpen competition in the lucrative US market.
The two reports do not line up on one figure. Yahoo Finance says Deutsche Telekom shares fell seven percent after the announcement; dpa-AFX put the Deutsche Telekom move at five percent and the seven percent on T-Mobile US. The likeliest explanation is that the two are not measuring the same thing: dpa-AFX is quoting a pre-market snapshot on Tradegate, a German retail venue, on the Friday morning, whereas Yahoo Finance is describing the drop after the announcement without naming a venue or a cut-off, and T-Mobile US trades on the Nasdaq in a different time zone. Neither outlet reconciles the two numbers, and this site has not verified either independently, so treat the size of the fall as approximate. The cost side of SpaceX’s spectrum ambitions has been covered separately in Starlink Cash Faces AI and $8bn Spectrum Bills at Once.
The critic is also a partner
Höttges is objecting to a product his own group already sells. T-Mobile offers T-Satellite with Starlink, which Yahoo Finance describes as working on ordinary compatible smartphones once a user is outside terrestrial coverage, and the outlet says Deutsche Telekom’s planned European service applies the same supplementary logic — which makes his objection one of scope rather than of satellites as such. European carriers’ wider manoeuvring over airwaves is covered in EU Telecoms Plot 2GHz Spectrum Push to Box Out Starlink.
What is not yet clear
Neither report gives a launch date, price or coverage map for Starlink Mobile as a standalone US mobile service, and neither sets out how much terrestrial equipment SpaceX itself intends to build. The sources also give no indication of whether the 800 MHz spectrum purchase, which Yahoo Finance describes as nationwide within the United States, has any bearing on Starlink service elsewhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people already use T-Mobile’s satellite service with Starlink?
T-Mobile said in January that T-Satellite with Starlink was connecting more than 150,000 Americans daily, according to Yahoo Finance. The same report says T-Mobile and its partners are still developing voice and broader data capabilities for the service.
What has the FCC said about SpaceX’s direct-to-device plans?
Yahoo Finance reports that the US Federal Communications Commission, the country’s telecoms regulator, has said SpaceX’s direct-to-device expansion could increase wireless competition and improve coverage in hard-to-reach areas.
Why does Höttges warn other carriers against wholesale deals with SpaceX?
According to Yahoo Finance, Höttges cautioned carriers not to help SpaceX expand through mobile virtual network operator agreements. He said cheap wholesale access could put the carriers’ own retail pricing under pressure.
What does low-band 800 MHz spectrum do that higher bands cannot?
SpaceX says on its website that low-band frequencies travel farther and penetrate walls, as reported by Yahoo Finance — the propagation properties that make 800 MHz useful for reaching a handset through a building rather than only under open sky.
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