Where will Elon Musk’s 4 Starlink gateways be located in Vietnam?

A gateway station houses radio equipment that connects satellites with terrestrial network infrastructure and relays data. To access the internet, a user’s antenna connects to a satellite, which then transmits signals to the nearest gateway.

A Starlink gateway in the U.S. Photo coutesy of the company

By the end of 2025 the network had 150 gateways in operation worldwide, 13 under construction and 19 awaiting approval.

On Feb. 18 in Washington, D.C., the Ministry of Science and Technology presented a license to provide telecommunications services with network infrastructure to a representative of Starlink Services Vietnam.

The event was held as part of a signing and handover ceremony for contracts and cooperation agreements in key areas such as science and technology, digital transformation, aviation and healthcare between representatives of the two countries.

The licensing reflects a controlled approach to managing and deploying new wireless information technologies, ensuring a balance between national radio frequency resource management requirements and the goal of promoting the development of modern, synchronized and sustainable digital infrastructure, the ministry said.

The low Earth orbit satellite internet system is expected to complement existing telecommunications infrastructure and enhance connectivity, particularly in areas where terrestrial transmission infrastructure is difficult to deploy or where additional backup capacity is required.

Starlink is a satellite internet service developed by SpaceX, owned by Musk, with the goal of providing broadband connectivity to hard-to-reach areas.

By the end of 2025, SpaceX had launched more than 10,000 satellites, though not all are currently operational. The company provides services in 150 countries and territories.

Starlink satellites operate in low Earth orbit at an altitude of 550 km, while traditional satellite internet uses geostationary satellites at altitudes of more than 35,000 km.

The shorter distance reduces data transmission time, resulting in lower latency compared with traditional satellite internet services.

Doan Quang Hoan, vice chairman of the Vietnam Radio-Electronics Association and former Director General of the Radio Frequency Department, said the placement of ground stations in Vietnam would bring multiple benefits.

Technically, the stations shorten the communication distance between users and data sources, as signals do not have to be routed through stations located abroad before returning to Vietnam.

"This helps reduce communication latency and increases on-site computing capacity. The more stations there are, the lower the latency," Hoan said.

Nguyen Tien Ban, head of the Faculty of Telecommunications 1 at the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology, said: "The speed and latency of internet services when stations are located in Vietnam will always be better than if they are located in other countries such as Indonesia or Singapore."

Under a Government decision issued in March 2025, to deploy telecommunications services using low Earth orbit satellite technology, SpaceX must install gateway stations within Vietnam’s territory and ensure that all traffic generated by satellite subscribers within Vietnam passes through these stations and connects to the domestic public telecommunications network.

In April 2025, Starlink received a pilot license from the government, becoming the first foreign enterprise approved by Vietnam to pilot satellite internet services. Starlink is permitted to deploy four gateway stations with up to 600,000 end-user devices.