Beidou additions to benefit Belt, Road countries

China launched its first Beidou satellite in 2000. The system began providing positioning, navigation, timing and short-message services to civilian users in China and surrounding areas in the Asia-Pacific in December 2012.

The most recent Beidou satellite launch was on March 30, and a backup satellite will be put into orbit in June, Ran said.

Under the government's plan, Beidou will have 35 satellites by 2020, five in geostationary orbit. By then, the system will have mostly new-generation satellites, according to Ran's office.

The government intends to build more than 1,800 ground-based augmentation stations over two years to increase the navigation system's accuracy.

Ran said 175 augmentation stations have been built and are fine-tuning the Beidou system. When 2,000 stations are in service, Beidou will be accurate down to the centimeter in China, he said.

The market value of satellite navigation services on the Chinese mainland reached 190 billion yuan ($29 billion) in 2015, according to Ran's office, to which Beidou contributed about 30 percent.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn