China vows to speed up global roll-out of BeiDou, its home-grown GPS rival

At a summit on Wednesday, Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang said the country was “enlarging its circle of international friends” after 31 years of developing the technology, which now accounts for over 70 per cent of the domestic consumer market share.

Compiled by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), the report was released at the fourth International Summit on BeiDou System Applications in central China’s Hunan province, where Ding delivered a keynote speech.

The navigation system has come a long way since its first satellites launched in 1994. Following a milestone third-generation launch in 2020, BeiDou has “now entered a new phase of global development, with comprehensive improvements in service performance and widespread expansion of large-scale applications, becoming a critical new infrastructure serving global users,” Ding said.

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China launches last piece of BeiDou Navigation Satellite system into orbit

China launches last piece of BeiDou Navigation Satellite system into orbit

Named after the seven bright northern stars used for navigation in ancient China, the BeiDou system has dominated the domestic market by powering smartphones, wearable devices, shared mobility services and other products.