SpaceX’s Vietnam unit licensed to provide Starlink services, appoints local CEO

The Ministry of Science and Technology has recently granted the unit telecommunications licenses covering fixed and mobile satellite networks.

The company has also received authorization from the ministry's Radio Frequency Department to use radio frequencies and operate related equipment.

The approvals allow the firm to build transmission and reception infrastructure in Vietnam in compliance with regulations and without disrupting existing wireless communication systems.

In the initial phase, the system will be permitted to deploy four ground gateway stations and provide satellite Internet access to up to 600,000 user terminals, regulators said.

An official roll-out date has not yet been announced, according to news site VnExpress.

Once commercial operations begin, Vietnam will become the fifth Southeast Asian country to host Starlink, after the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste.

Starlink Services Vietnam Co., Ltd. has a charter capital of about US$1.15 million.

Do Ba Thich, a 36-year-old Vietnamese man from Hanoi, has been appointed the firm's CEO.

Lauren Ashley Dreyer, an American national born in 1983, serves as chairwoman and legal representative of the company, which is wholly owned by Starlink Holdings Netherlands B.V., a SpaceX affiliate based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Satellite Internet is intended to serve areas where fiber-optic cables and conventional telecommunications infrastructure are unavailable or unreliable.

Vietnamese officials say the service is expected to complement ground-based networks, particularly in remote mountainous and island regions.

According to SpaceX, the system supports high-performance streaming, videoconferencing, online gaming, and remote work.

Starlink is a low Earth orbit satellite Internet network developed by SpaceX, founded by American billionaire Elon Musk.

The constellation currently comprises about 6,750 satellites operating at an average altitude of roughly 550 kilometers.

It has been deployed in more than 125 countries and territories, serving approximately five million users worldwide.

Starlink was first tested in Vietnam at the Vietnam International Innovation Expo in October 2023, held in Hanoi's Hoa Lac area, achieving speeds of about 200 Mbps.