HANOI (Reuters) -SpaceX is expected to launch Starlink satellite internet services in Vietnam from the fourth quarter of this year, state media cited a government official as saying on Tuesday.

"The Ministry of Science and Technology aims to license the pilot services using low-orbit satellites immediately after the investor completes investment procedures and establishes a legal entity in Vietnam, with the goal of deploying the services in the fourth quarter of 2025," deputy minister Pham Duc Long said, according to the Tuoi Tre newspaper.

SpaceX is currently working with the Ministry of Finance to complete the procedures required to set up a wholly-owned unit in Vietnam, the report said.

Two sources told Reuters in April that SpaceX was readying a ground station in the Southeast Asian country for Starlink satellites and planned many more.

Vietnam's government said in March it would allow SpaceX to launch its services in the country on a trial basis, with no foreign ownership limit. It said the trial period would last until the end of 2030.