Galileo, the first large program initiated by the European Union and the ESA, is a civilian radio-navigation system with unprecedented performance based on a constellation of thirty satellites providing global coverage.
 
Galileo will provide unrivalled quality of service, covering the full range of institutional and commercial market requirements with regard to accurate and dependable positioning and timing. Galileo services will benefit such areas as mobile telecommunications, the full range of transport modes and safety of persons and property.

It involves a constellation of 30 satellites in medium Earth orbit, along with a worldwide ground segment. Galileo is an independent system, ensuring Europe's competitiveness and offering an advantageous complement to the current GPS (United States) and Glonass (Russia) satnav systems. It will support the development of a number of innovative services and create jobs in Europe.

The total cost of Galileo is estimated at 3.5 billion euros. The initial development phase is equally funded by the European Union and ESA, for a total of 1.1 billion euros. Subsequent phases, spanning system construction, deployment and operation, will be covered by a Public Private Partnership (PPP), through a concession arrangement.

Alcatel: a major partner in the Galileo program

Alcatel Space is a major partner in Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system. We are already prime contractor for Egnos, the GNSS augmention system that is the basis of Galileo's system architecture, a founding member of Galileo Industries, in charge of the ground segment, a founding member of the Eurely consortium, pre-selected to head the Galileo concession, responsible for the Galileo demonstrator now being integrated in our clean rooms, and a candidate for the production of major subsystems to be used on the 30 satellites in the constellation.