Russia’s plans to complete the GLONASS constellation have been scuppered by the unsuccessful launch of three satellites. The satellites failed to reach orbit and landed in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
Russia has ambitious plans for its revamped GLONASS positioning system that will be delayed approximately 12 months by the crash. Earlier this year, the Russian prime minister said that imported mobile phones that use GPS rather than GLONASS will incur a 25% tax from 2012.
The head of GLONASS, Alexander Gurko, said that Motorola, Nokia and Qualcomm are in talks with Russian chip manufacturers over the development of GLONASS receivers for handheld devices.
GLONASS is expected to be used for eCall emergency assistance services in Russia through an initiative called ERA-GLONASS. The Russian government has announced that GLONASS-based eCall systems will installed in new cars from 2012 with nationwide service coverage expected from 2014.
SBD is continuing its on-going research into the prospects for both private and public eCall services in Europe. A new analysis report is scheduled for release early in 2011. To register your interest in this research, contact Juanita Appleby on jappleby@sbd.co.uk