T-Mobile owner on Elon Musk launching a wireless carrier: ‘Welcome to the party’

T-Mobile 母公司负责人对埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）进军无线运营商领域发表看法：“欢迎加入这场派对”。

Starlink Mobile could cost SpaceX at least $200 billion, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges says.

德国电信（Deutsche Telekom）首席执行官蒂姆·霍特格斯（Tim Höttges）表示，Starlink Mobile 可能会让 SpaceX 耗资至少 2000 亿美元。

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:

T-Mobile 母公司的负责人对 SpaceX 将 Starlink Mobile 打造成美国“主要”运营商的计划表示怀疑。在周四的财报电话会议上，德国电信首席执行官蒂姆·霍特格斯表示，他非常重视这家由埃隆·马斯克拥有的公司，但要实现这一目标至少需要 2000 亿美元。

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.

他 [马斯克] 现在购买了 76 兆赫兹的频谱。顺便说一下，我们有 400 兆赫兹。所以如果你现在说他可以预先购买频谱，算算账吧。获得这样的频谱地位需要数千亿美元的投入。如果他有钱，那就去做吧。然后他必须建立一个网络。我可以告诉你，我们有 85,000 座基站。当然，他可以租用基站，这没问题。但这又需要 200 到 300 亿美元。

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.

在基站上安装天线。你可以购买天线……也许你可以用更便宜的方式获得它们，或者以一种新的方式建造，但你需要钱。因此，我的评估是，如果 SpaceX 想在这个行业竞争，至少需要 2000 亿美元。但即便如此，想要进入一个我们过去 20 年来已经实现专业化的行业——好吧，欢迎加入这场派对。

Last month, SpaceX laid out its plans for Starlink Mobile to compete against T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon by using a combination of direct-to-cell satellites and a terrestrial network. One recent report suggests that SpaceX could tap into 80,000 cell towers throughout the US, while another indicates that Musk was in talks to acquire Boost Mobile. This week, Qualcomm announced that SpaceX will use its cellular infrastructure technology to support Starlink Mobile’s network buildout.

上个月，SpaceX 公布了 Starlink Mobile 的计划，旨在通过结合直连手机卫星和地面网络，与 T-Mobile、AT&T 和 Verizon 展开竞争。最近的一份报告显示，SpaceX 可能会利用美国各地的 80,000 座基站，而另一份报告则指出马斯克正在商谈收购 Boost Mobile。本周，高通公司宣布 SpaceX 将使用其蜂窝基础设施技术来支持 Starlink Mobile 的网络建设。

At the same time, Höttges is aware of the potential threat Starlink Mobile could pose to the mobile industry by creating a “new” type of service. “He [Musk] has chipsets, he has data centers, he has AI, he has satellites… He will go as well for maybe integrating social media or at least agent models into his service. So he is creating a new way of communication services,” Höttges says. “That is why I’m saying I take that super serious because I was witnessing what happened to the car industry. They were ignoring it for too long, and we have to face the situation. But it’s not a free lunch. And you see that with Tesla as well in the car industry.”

与此同时，霍特格斯意识到 Starlink Mobile 通过创造一种“新”型服务可能对移动行业构成的潜在威胁。“他 [马斯克] 拥有芯片组、数据中心、人工智能和卫星……他可能还会尝试将社交媒体或至少是代理模型整合到他的服务中。所以他正在创造一种新的通信服务方式，”霍特格斯说。“这就是为什么我说我非常重视这一点，因为我目睹了汽车行业发生的事情。他们忽视得太久了，我们必须面对这种情况。但这并不是免费的午餐。你在特斯拉在汽车行业的表现中也能看到这一点。”