Space policy in the context of trans-European networks and the completion of the Single Market

Galileo was perceived from the outset as a commercial venture that would enhance the Single Market, with its likely operating services including: an ‘open access service’, free to all users and providing basic positioning navigation; ‘timing signals’ as a new universal service; commercial services based on additional encrypted data, allowing a charge to be made; ‘safety of life services’, which would provide greater accuracy and integrity of the signal, allowing the
user to know within a few seconds if the positioning information had become corrupted; a ‘search and rescue service’, which identified a user’s location to civilian emergency services; and a ‘public regulated service’ based on a robust signal, resistant to interference or jamming and restricted to certain public security organisations such as the police and fire services. As a result, the Galileo Operating Company would generate revenue from the royalties on chipset sales, paid by equipment providers who incorporated a Galileo chip in their products to allow users to obtain the open access service, and income from service providers who wanted to use the specialised encrypted signals to offer other services (PriceWaterhouseCoopers 2001: 4).