China's satellite navigation industry sees rapid development

BEIJING -- China's satellite navigation and location services industry achieved a total output value of 301.6 billion yuan (about $43.93 billion) in 2018, up 18.3 percent from the previous year, according to an annual industry report.

The data was published in the White Paper on the Development of China's Satellite Navigation and Location Services Industry (2019), which was released by the GNSS (global navigation satellite system) and LBS (location-based service) Association of China on Wednesday.

The industry's core sectors, which are directly related to the development and application of the satellite navigation technology, include chip, device, algorithm, software, navigation data, terminal equipment and infrastructure. These sectors reported 106.9 billion yuan in output value, accounting for 35.44 percent of the industry's total.

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System contributed 80 percent to the output value generated by the core sectors. The system raked in a total of 194.7 billion yuan with related products and services.

China has launched 44 BDS satellites, and the system has been applied in many industries including transport, maritime affairs, electricity, civil affairs, meteorology, fishery, surveying and mapping, mining and public security.

According to the report, over 80 million sets of domestic BDS terminal products had come into service by the end of 2018. The total number of terminal products, including smartphones, installed with BDS compatible chips was close to 700 million.

There are 14,000 enterprises and institutions in the field of satellite navigation and location services in China, with more than 500,000 employees. By the end of 2018, 51 companies in the industry had been listed, said Li Donghang, deputy secretary-general of the GNSS and LBS Association of China.