China sends two satellites of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into space at 8:55 a.m from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Nov. 23, 2019. (Photo by Guo Wenbin/Xinhua)



China's satellite navigation and location services industry achieved an output value of 345 billion yuan ($48.58 billion) in 2019, up 14.4 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 (2020), which was released by the GNSS (global navigation satellite system) and LBS (location-based service) Association of China on Monday.

The industry's growth rate in 2019 was 3.9 percentage points lower than that of 2018, due to slower demand in the domestic market and tougher competition overseas, said Zhang Quande, secretary-general of the GNSS and LBS Association of China (GLAC). 

The industry's core sectors are directly related to the development and application of the satellite navigation technology, and include chip, device, algorithm, software, navigation data, terminal equipment and infrastructure sectors. These sectors reported 116.6 billion yuan in output value, accounting for 33.8 percent of the industry's total.

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) contributed 80 percent of the output value generated by the core sectors.

In June, China will launch the last satellites for the Beidou-3 Navigation Satellite System, an array of 30 satellites that will provide services to global users, according to media reports on Friday.

The completion of the Beidou-3 constellation, along with China's new-type infrastructure drive which puts an emphasis on smart technologies, will be a major engine driving further growth in BDS' market in 2020, according to GLAC.

By the end of 2019, the total number of satellite navigation patent applications in China exceeded 70,000, ranking first in the world, the report showed.

China's homegrown BDS saw increased applications in 2019. Out of the 400 smartphones loaded with positioning functions that applied for wireless network access in the Chinese market, nearly 300 support BDS, the report said, citing data as of the end of September.

Global Times