China promises homegrown satellite navigation system "reliable, safe and free"

China's homegrown navigation system, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), will provide continuous, stable and reliable open services to users "free of charge", said a government report on Thursday.

Currently, B1I and B2I open service signals are being broadcast by the operating BDS-2 to provide open services to the Asia-Pacific region free of charge, said a white paper on the BDS issued by the State Council Information Office.

The services cover an area between 55 degrees north latitude and 55 degrees south latitude, and between 55 and 180 degrees east longitude, with positioning accuracy less than 10 meters, velocity measurement accuracy less than 0.2 meter per second, and timing accuracy less than 50 nanoseconds.

By 2020, the BDS is expected to serve global users and it will "provide open satellite navigation services free of charge," according to the report.

The country will publish BDS documents related to open services and signals to facilitate global BDS product development efforts, the report said.

It will also work to protect the radio-navigation satellite frequency spectrum according to law and firmly reject harmful interference.

China prohibits the production, sale and use of illegal interference devices, investigates and punishes in accordance with the law any hostile interference actions which affect the system operations and services, the report said. Endi