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Starlink set to have first ground station by June, sources

say

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Company plans 10-15 stations in Vietnam, sources say

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Plan proceeding amid US tariff risks, fate unclear

By Francesco Guarascio and Phuong Nguyen

HANOI, April 1 (Reuters) - SpaceX is readying a ground

station in Vietnam for Starlink satellites and plans many more,

two people with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, in a move

that would herald its launch in the country and would help

authorities police internet traffic.

The possible investment follows Vietnam's decision, amid

U.S. tariff risks, to allow Starlink to operate under a

five-year pilot programme by which owner Elon Musk can retain

full control of SpaceX's local subsidiary, circumventing strict

limits on foreign ownership.

Hanoi has asked SpaceX to set up at least one ground station

in Vietnam, according to a decision by the prime minister, dated

March 23 and reviewed by Reuters.

That station could be up and running as early as May or June

in the central Vietnamese city of Danang, and may be part of a

network of up to 15 in the country, said the two people, who

were briefed about the deliberations.

It is unclear whether the plans would move forward if

Vietnam is slapped with high tariffs, which U.S. President

Donald Trump has said will be announced on April 2 for countries

the administration reckons are unfairly benefiting from their

trade with the United States.

SpaceX and Vietnam's technology ministry did not reply to

requests for comment.

The plan would make Vietnam the host of one of the largest

such Starlink networks. Starlink operates in more than 100

countries and territories, but does not disclose how many ground

stations it has. Not all of the countries have a ground station,

which communicate with satellites and forward data to users.

Starlink Installation Pros, a company that says it

specialises in installing Starlink services but is not related

to Starlink, says on its website Starlink has about 150 ground

stations globally, with nearly half in the United States.

'OLIVE BRANCH'

Starlink is still completing its application to operate in

Vietnam, and is also in talks for the possible provision of

secure intranet communication services, said one of the people,

a Vietnamese official, who noted the intranet plan had not yet

been approved by the government.

The Vietnamese government has authorised Starlink to serve a

maximum of 600,000 customers - a limit that, in a country with

internet prices lower than Starlink's and where only remote,

poor areas are not covered by high-speed connections, may

encourage Starlink to offer additional services.

The second source, who was briefed about a meeting in March

between representatives for Starlink and local authorities, said

Starlink's investment would be about $3 million for the ground

station in central Vietnam.

Both sources said that the plan entailed the establishment

of 10-15 stations across Vietnam, but that regulatory steps had

so far only been taken for the first.

They declined to be named because the information was not

public.

Negotiations to obtain favourable ownership conditions for

Starlink, which Vietnam initially opposed, resumed in recent

months amid increasing risks that Vietnam might face damaging

tariffs from the Trump administration over its large trade

surplus with Washington, which topped $123 billion last year.

A third person familiar with the discussions described

Vietnam's change of tack on Starlink as an "olive branch" to

Musk, a close ally to Trump.

Starlink had run a free trial service in Vietnam, one of the

sources and another Vietnamese official said. The official had

noted that the service allowed the coast guard to guide drones

in the South China Sea, and was interrupted when talks over

ownership rights were put on hold at the end of 2023.

Ground stations optimise Starlink's services in a country.

At the same time they allow regulators to monitor more closely

data transfers, which is a crucial issue in tightly controlled

Vietnam, one of the sources said.

All traffic generated in Vietnam "must pass through this

gateway", the prime minister's March decision says, setting

requirements on data storage, identification of users and

suspension of service on security grounds.

SpaceX has pledged to invest $1.5 billion in Vietnam,

according to a report published in September on the Vietnamese

government portal, and has told suppliers to move some

production operations to the Southeast Asian nation.