At last week’s Deutsche Telekom (DT) investor conference call following on from the issue of the telco’s results it emerged that the German telephony company is “evaluating” connectivity from AST SpaceMobile (AST) and Amazon’s LEO broadband project.

Tim Höttges, CEO Deutsche Telekom Q2 results, stated: “I’m surprised by the catch up and developments we see in LEO on the Amazon side and the ambitions of AST SpaceMobile. Different technologies but very decent capacity they can build. I can tell you there won’t be one satellite player, but there will be a few we can include into our offerings going forward.”

Deutsche Telekom has similarly evaluated the Vodafone-backed joint-venture with AST (Satellite Connect Europe). DT has a relationship with Starlink in the US (via T-Mobile)

However, Höttges hit out at the prospect of satellite making any impactful damage on DT’s operations. He downplayed speculation that Starlink could provide a better service than existing mobile operators and surpass terrestrial telecom providers as the main provider of connectivity services, labelling some recent claims “far-fetched and conceptual”.

Höttges explained that Deutsche Telekom – which is the majority owner of T-Mobile US – takes Musk’s ambitions “very seriously” but admitted that he was “very irritated” by the market reaction to some of the SpaceX’s founder’s claims. He pointed specifically to claims around small cells and femtocell technology and mesh networks. “There are a lot of buzzwords flying around these days,” he added. “There is a business for broadband services in rural areas, where coverage is bad, but it isn’t as good as fibre. I am surprised by the amount of overbuild of satellites, but with [Amazon] Leo and AST [SpaceMobile], there will be a lot of competition in that market.”

“The threat posed to mobile operators from satellite companies such as Starlink has been exaggerated and I struggle to see which consumer problems they would solve by entering the market.” He believes satellite technology will remain “complementary” to existing networks, he added.

Höttges concluded: “Satellite communications will expand coverage to areas that are underserved and both Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile are well positioned to integrate satellite capabilities when they improve the customer proposition. We already have deals in place both in Europe and in the US. But high capacity terrestrial networks retain significant structural advantages in dense environments. No question – capacity, indoor coverage, latency, simultaneous usage and the cost per gigabyte are advantageous compared to satellite services. For us, it is not about dismissing the technology but to keep extending our own advantages… in spectrum leadership, which is critical, and network density.”

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Satellite

Tags: Amazon, AST SpaceMobile, Deutsche Telekom