Russian Federal government adopted the target-program “Global navigational satellite system, GLONASS” for 2012-2020. 346.595 billion rubles from the budget are allocated for development of the system’s infrastructure.
Alexander Gurko, general director of the federal net operator NIS GLONASS
Last year the group of the system GLONASS was completely spread out, and today we have global coverage and ability to provide services based on GLONASS throughout the whole territory of our planet. Roskosmos and companies producing the system contributed a lot to this.
Moreover, this year we can see a continuation of the trend of development of the double-system equipment GLONASS JPS. We think this is the main technological trend in this sphere. Major producers of chipsets and smart-phones are shifting to double-system equipment GLONASS JPS. Such companies as Apple, Samsung, Motorola, STC, Callcom, Radcom and others plan to use double-system equipment.
At the same time, global competition is developing. We know about the plans of our European colleagues on the system Galileo, but these plans have been postponed. More actively, the Chinese system Compass is being developed. Of course we are preparing for global competition with our systems and services based on GLONASS JPS. In Russia implementation of GLONASS JPS continues. Last year about 270,000 chipsets were sold, i.e. the same number of GLONASS JPS gadgets. This is much more than in previous years.
Moreover, GLONASS JPS chipsets’ prices are falling. Three years ago GLONASS JPS microchips cost $200-250, which is unacceptable even for the professional market. Today, chipsets which appear in Russian and foreign markets cost about $15. Based on these microchips, professional equipment with wider functions is being created.
We follow the gradual establishment of a legal base in this sphere. Several normative acts have been adopted, including those initiated by the Ministry of Transport. Gradually a common technological policy is being implemented and encouraged. It is no secret that in previous years many regions and ministries implemented navigation systems chaotically, and now they should be synchronized. Tiday NIS GLONASS, as the federal net operator, is the leader of the satellite navigation market and transport telematics in Russia. We are in the top 10 major world companies in this market. Further development is intensive and I hope in 2012-2013 we will provide the same pace of growth.
In two years our company has grown a hundredfold, and our profits – more than a hundredfold. Considering our merger with M2M Telematics, I think this trend will go on, but will probably slow down. At the same time, it is our company that contributes to the development of the market, as we form demand on systems and services based on GLONASS. We intensively develop regional target programs together with the regions. 15 regions accepted such programs, 46 will do so. We form departmental programs of GLONASS implementation. This is important work, as it enables us to define and estimate the needs of clients in systems of transport management, in systems of high-frequency positioning based on GLONASS.
Major projects, such as ERA-GLONASS, will zoom the market intensely and provide demand for millions of gadgets and chip-sets of GLONASS JPS. Moreover, all these products have serious export potential. The systems are being implemented in various countries, first of all, in India, which is the second key market for us after Russia. Joint projects are being fulfilled in the CIS countries. We expect that by 2020 the entire Russian transport system could be using ERA-GLONASS services, and this service will seriously improve traffic security in our country. By the end of 2013, NIS GLONASS will complete the establishment of the ERA-GLONASS system and will launch it into exploitation.
Moreover, we actively participate in forming the legal base in the international arena too. NIS GLONASS is a member of eCall Platform, which is a committee in the EU developing standards in the sphere of intellectual transport systems and in the sphere of the security traffic. The European project eCall, which will be launched by 2014, is an analogue of the Russian GLONASS.
This year we are developing infrastructure in several regions: Ufa, Yekaterinburg, and Novosibirsk. Last year we founded navigation-information centers in Moscow and St.-Petersburg. Next year we should provide ERA-GLONASS service in 12 regions of Russia. Last year we started a major project on establishing an intellectual transport system in Moscow. Within this project our company creates the system of traffic control, the security system of passenger transport in Moscow. We equip passenger transport on Mosgortrans. Zone centers and municipal centers are being founded. Thus, it is a modern system, which enables more effective management of passenger transport, provides passengers with services on traffic schedules and improves transport security. All of us visit other countries, Europe, and we see that almost every city has an information display, which shows when your tram or bus should come. Such a service cannot be provided without navigation equipment on all units of transport. It is one of the largest projects in the world, as Mosgortrans is the biggest transporter in East Europe. In general, more than 4,000 vehicles were equipped, and about 5,000 will be equipped this year. In general in Russia we have equipped about 32,000 passenger vehicles. More than 100 cities use our traffic control systems in 52 regions of Russia.
As an example of the GLONASS system's implementation there is the Russian Post. We plan a major project – equipping 4,500 vehicles this year, last year there were 6,700 vehicles, and overall there will be 21,000. We also have a major project with the Transneft Company – equipment for 37 branches of Tatneft. This is a difficult project. We are implementing the system all over Russia, including areas within the Polar circle. Transneft expects a serious effect from this project in the spheres of management, security and saving money. More than 6,000 vehicles were equipped last year, in general we plan to equip 20,000 vehicles.
Among ministries, the leader in implementation of GLONASS systems is the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which has the biggest vehicle fleet, in general around 140,000 vehicles, 10% of which were equipped last year. We plan to equip around 9-10 thousand vehicles this year, including 5,000 vehicles in Moscow. An interesting project is the control system of emergency alrms in Moscow. It enables reducing the time of reacting to emergencies and improves the crime detection rate.
So there is major implementation being provided in Russia in this sphere in corporation systems and major projects, such as logistics transport systems in Sochi for the Olympic Games. At the moment, the system of cargo traffic control is functioning, and more than 2,500 vehicles are involved in the system, and more than 8,000 will be involved. The project is unique. First of all, we have the unique Olympic Games in a unique place, and establishing such q center of multimode traffic, which enables management of cargo transport, and passenger transport, and rail, air and sea transport for providing transportation to the Olympic Games. It is a unique and difficult task.
Alexei Smyatskikh, executive director of M2M Telematics
At the moment the group of companies M2M Telematics is the leading Russian innovative brand in the sphere of transport telematics. The company is developing intensively. Last year was very successful. We sold 300,000 navigation gadgets, 150,000 of which were receivers produced by GeoStar Navigation, one of our companies, and more than 52,000 professional navigation communication terminals, which were installed in various vehicles of companies and municipal customers. Today M2M Telematics is the largest RnD center in the sphere of transport telematics, where more than 400 people are working. Last year we intensively developed in all promising directions, first of all, production of navigation communication gadgets, and more than 15 new modifications were produced. We also drew the attention of our creators to the development of branch products. More than 20 new products were created last year. We are intensively working on a series of navigation chipsets. This April we will launch a new receiver GeoS-3, which will be competitive in the JPS market of Russia, considering its technical characteristics and price, which will be $15. As a result, we can say that today in Russia double-system GLONASS JPS equipment has displaced JPS gadgets. Major producers, including M2M Telematics, stopped production of JPS gadgets for the professional market, as double-system equipment costs as much as single-system gadgets, while the advantages of double-system equipment and systems are obvious. Wide implementation of GLONASS receivers in products of the major world producers on the consumer market confirms this.
