New navigation system to create big business

BEIJING - A new Chinese global navigation system is expected to help China compete with other foreign GPS technologies, and could generate around 400 billion yuan ($60 billion) in revenues by 2020, a senior space technology expert has announced.

Liu Jingnan, executive president of the China Satellite Navigation Conference, said on March 19 that, "The Beidou project will be part of an industry that's worth from 150 to 200 billion yuan by 2015, and that figure is expected to reach 400 billion by 2020."

According to previous reports, there will be 12 to 14 navigation satellites put into orbit to provide navigation and short messaging services in the Asia and Pacific region, during the first stage of the project (2011-2015). By 2020, there will be more than 30 satellites in the global navigation system.