Why Starlink won't open Vietnam's heavily censored internet

Elon Musk's Starlink has begun selling satellite internet in Vietnam, bringing its high-speed service to one of the world's most tightly controlled online environments. The satellite internet service operated by Musk's SpaceX began accepting orders from Vietnamese customers this month, with residential packages starting at around €37 ($43) a month. Vietnam's government announced in March 2025 that it would allow SpaceX to launch Starlink on a controlled trial basis, waiving the usual restrictions on foreign ownership.

The trial is capped at 600,000 subscribers and is due to run until the end of 2030. The service is operated through Starlink Services Vietnam, a local SpaceX subsidiary established last September. Vietnamese authorities subsequently licensed four ground gateway stations and up to 600,000 Starlink terminals for the initial rollout.

The gateways allow satellite traffic to connect with terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure inside Vietnam. Vietnam authorized the trial in March 2025 as it sought to head off threatened US trade measures over its large bilateral trade surplus. At the time, some analysts viewed approval of Starlink, alongside tariff reductions on several US products, as part of Hanoi's effort to ease trade tensions with Washington.

Vietnam officially connected to the global internet in 1997. By the end of 2025, it had around 85.6 million internet users, equivalent to 84.2% of the population, according to government data. Conventional internet infrastructure is already extensive.

Around 85% of Vietnamese households had fiber-optic internet, while there were more than 110 million mobile broadband subscriptions, and the country's 5G network covered around 92% of the population, according to official statistics. Starlink is relatively expensive compared to other network options, but its most obvious advantage is not in well-connected cities such as Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City but in mountainous, remote and island communities where terrestrial infrastructure remains weaker. The Vietnamese government says Starlink could help increase internet access in remote areas, islands and places without adequate terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure.

Because satellite connections rely less on local cables and towers, they could also provide backup communications when terrestrial networks are damaged by typhoons, floods or landslides. However, Starlink currently advertises its cheapest household plan in Vietnam at about €37 a month, while the necessary hardware starts at roughly €284. In rural areas, where Starlink could potentially be most useful, average monthly income is just €259, according to Vietnam's National Statistics Office.