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China nears completion of its GPS competitor, increasing the potential for Internet balkanization
On Friday, China announced that it would complete its competitor to the U.S.-operated global positioning system network by the first half of next year, increasing the pace of its decoupling from U.S. technologies.
China's Beidou network of satellites - named after the "Big Dipper" constellation - will be the first service to compete with the U.S. Air Force's global positioning system and already has a potentially massive user base since over 70% of Chinese smartphones are now ready to use its positioning services, according to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review.
The Beidou network is integral to China's longterm plans to dominate the next generation of telecommunications services and - coupled with China's advances in fifth-generation wireless communications technology - represents as significant challenge to the U.S. hegemony over telecommunications infrastructure.
China plans to launch the final two satellites needed to make the Beidou system operational by June 2020, according to a statement from the project's director, Ran Chengqi quoted by The Associated Press.
Envisioning a system where China's global positioning system and fifth generation wireless networking technologies work in tandem, China could command a lion's share of the market for new telecommunications services.
A test of how these technologies could work in tandem is being developed in Wuhan, where both 5G and Beidou's mapping technologies will be used to create an autonomous vehicle testbed on a 28 kilometer stretch of road.
Beidou already has 120 partners signed up to work with the service - all linked to agreements made under China's expanding Belt and Road infrastr
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