Deutsche Telekom CEO says SpaceX has a massive mountain to climb to compete in mobile: 'Welcome to the party!'

"Welcome to the party," Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges said of SpaceX's Starlink mobile play. Yen Duong/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The CEO of one of Europe's largest telecom networks is not stressed about Elon Musk's Starlink mobile ambitions — yet.

"If he has the money, go for it," Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges said during the company's third-quarter earnings call Thursday. "My assessment is that SpaceX, at least, if they want to play in that industry, needs at least minimum €200 billion."

Deutsche Telekom owns a 55% controlling share of T-Mobile US .

Like his US counterparts at AT&T and Verizon, Höttges said that satellite-based networks aren't sufficient for handling the kind of mobile coverage that consumers have grown accustomed to in well-developed areas.

"If you have an antenna 10 meters or 100 meters away from you, why should you go 400 kilometers up and down?" he asked.

The…