The general director of the Russian Institute of Radio Navigation, Sergei Pisarev, said on April 7 that Russia's satellite navigation services market will be worth 160 billion rubles ($6.6 billion) by 2015, RIA Novosti reported the same day. He expects 7 percent of Russia’s population to be users of Russia’s satellite navigation system (Glonass). The Global Navigation Satellite System, the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), currently consists of 18 satellites and is designed to provide navigation and positioning data for the territory of the Russian Federation. Another six satellites will be added to the Glonass system in 2008, and the first two Glonass-K satellites are set to be launched in 2009. A total of 9.88 billion rubles ($380 million) was allocated for Glonass from the Russian federal budget in 2007, and 4.7 billion ($181 million) in 2006, detailed the news source.

This information was originally published on April 7, 2008. (www.rian.ru)