Organizers of Europe’s new satellite-based European navigation system Galileo will announce Tuesday who has been chosen to run the system for the next two decades, a spokesman said Monday.
The race to win the 20-year concession — a contract worth an estimated three billion euros (3.97 billion dollars) — is between Eurely, conprising Alcatel, Finmeccanica and Vinci, and the iNavsat group, made up of Thales, EADS and Inmarsat.
The Galileo system, which should start operations in 2008, will complement the US Global Position System that was originally developed for military targeting and position finding.
The EU says the globe-girdling satellites will enable the development of new services in areas such as transport, the environment, agriculture and fisheries that are eventually expected to cover the running costs of the system, estimated at 220 million euros (290 million dollars).
The European system was the first to be designed for purely civilian use. The United States and the EU signed an agreement last June to adopt common operating standards for the two systems.
