GPS rival China's BeiDou navigation system starts global service

BEIJING: China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has started to provide global service, said BDS Spokesperson Ran Chengqi on Thursday.

At a press conference of the State Council Information Office, Ran said the construction of the BDS-3 primary system has been completed.

"This signifies that BDS has officially entered the global era as the BDS expands from a regional system to a global navigation system," Ran said.

The positioning accuracy of the system has reached 10 meters globally and five meters in the Asia-Pacific region. Its velocity accuracy is 0.2 meters per second, while its timing accuracy stands at 20 nanoseconds, according to Ran.

By the end of 2018, there were a total of 33 BDS satellites operating in orbit, including 15 BDS-2 satellites and 18 BDS-3 satellites.

China plans to launch another 11 BDS-3 satellites and one BDS-2 satellite in the coming two years to form the complete global network, Ran said.