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.