Vietnam has reportedly given SpaceX regulatory clearance to establish at least one ground station in the country for its upcoming Starlink pilot offering, which would not only optimise traffic but also enable the government to police it.
According to a Reuters report on Monday, citing a decision issued by the prime minister on March 23, the Vietnamese government has asked SpaceX to set up at least one ground station in Da Nang.
The report also quotes “two people with knowledge of the talks” who said the ground station could be operational as early as May or June this year. One of the sources said Starlink would invest around US$3 million to build the ground station.
The sources also claimed Starlink could potentially build a network of between ten and 15 ground stations in Vietnam, although regulatory approval has only been given for the one in Da Nang, the report said.
Starlink doesn’t disclose how many ground stations it has, but not every country where it operates has one. The March 23 PM directive says that all Starlink traffic “must pass through this gateway”, ostensibly to enable the government to better control traffic running over the network. The directive also specifies requirements regarding data storage, identification of users, and suspension of service on security grounds, the report said.
A third source claimed the government’s approval of a Starlink ground station was intended as an “olive branch” to SpaceX and Starlink CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, whose administration is set to impose substantial tariff increases on Vietnam and other countries later today, the report added.
It remains to be seen if the ground station plan will go ahead if the Trump administration follows through on its tariff plan, the report noted.
Last week, Reuters reported that the Vietnamese government cleared Starlink to offer LEO satellite broadband services in the country under a pilot programme for the next five years. Starlink will only be allowed to sign on a maximum of 600,000 subscribers for the duration of the pilot.
