Alibaba to Partner in Commercializing China’s GPS SystemBeidou

By Liu Rong (People’s Daily Online)    23:24, August 19, 2015

China North Industries Group Norinco Group and ecommerce giant Alibaba set up a jointventure to provide location-based services using Beidou’s satellites system on Tuesday.

The Shanghai-based new joint venture, Qianxun Location Network, has a registeredcapital of two billion yuan($310 million), with each company holding 50 percent.

It is reported that the new venture is aimed to promote Beidou’s services to companies anddevelopers.

BDS is one of the world’s biggest navigation systems, along with American-made GPS,Russia’s GLONASS, and Galileo from the European Union.

Galileo is not expected to become commercially operational until next year. India is alsoworking on its Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.