China satellite navigation industry to see high growth

Beijing, (IANS) China's satellite navigation industry is expected to grow to 400 billion yuan ($61 billion) by 2020, a media report said Friday.

People's Daily reported that the country's satellite navigation industry will enter an explosive period as soon as relevant techniques mature.

"China has already listed satellite navigation as one part of seven national major strategic new industries, and its application industries are meeting great opportunities," Ran Chengqi, an official, was quoted as saying.

"Actually, 400 billion (yuan) is still a conservative guess that was calculated based on annual growth of 15 to 20 percent.

"However, China's satellite navigation industry has been growing at 30 to 50 percent in recent years. From the global perspective, the (worldwide satellite navigation) industry's productive value can reach $400 to $500 billion," added Ran.

The media report said that the satellite navigation industry began in 2002, and its market scale was just four billion yuan in 2003.