Elon Musk spotlights Starlink rollout in remote Vietnam locations

The world's richest billionaire Elon Musk has highlighted the deployment of Starlink satellite internet in the northern special zones of Cat Hai and Bach Long Vi, where 10 public access points now offer free connectivity.

On Oct. 14, he posted on X that "Starlink brings Internet access to remote places," amplifying a post by DogeDesigner about a joint initiative between the northern port city of Hai Phong and his company to deliver web access to offshore islands. It quickly got 1.5 million views and 11,000 likes.

Starlink has set up 10 standard 4X receiver terminals and offers six months of free Internet. Its technicians set up six of them in Cat Hai and four on the more distant Bach Long Vi Island.

They began work late last week in Cat Hai in collaboration with FPT International Telecom and FPT Telecom Hai Phong.

The six receivers were installed at the Cat Hai municipal government headquarters, the ferry docks in Viet Hai Village and Gia Luan, and three maritime checkpoints at Quai To, Van Ta, and Tra Bau. The low-orbit satellite network is designed to coordinate disaster relief and search-and-rescue efforts, and serve as an emergency fallback when severe typhoons knock out terrestrial communications.

Pham Huy Thang, Deputy Director of the Hai Phong Department of Science and Technology, says low Earth orbit satellites offer an essential alternative line of communication in geographically challenging island terrain like Cat Hai.

In September, the national telecommunications authority took delivery of 254 Starlink Standard 4X satellite units capable of speeds up to 400 Mbps, distributing them along with bundled service packages to science and technology departments in 13 provinces and cities.

During the handover, telecommunications authority head Nguyen Thanh Chung explained that licensing Starlink Services Vietnam broadens available technology and reinforces national digital infrastructure. The network would provide a dependable communication fallback during natural disasters and major grid failures, he added.

Nguyen Minh Duc, country director of Starlink Vietnam, said his company seeks to complement existing telecom systems rather than replace them, focusing primarily on isolated regions, remote outposts, and islands.