A consortium led by Eutelsat, Europe's largest satellite services company, said Wednesday it had decided not to bid for a concession to operate Galileo, the future European satellite global positioning system (GPS). The Eutelsat group comprises LogicaCMG, Hispasat, Fiat and Aena.
The Galileo deadline expired Wednesday, with two groups submitting bids, according to sources close to the matter.
They are Eurely, comprising Alcatel, Finmeccanica SpA, Vinci, SFR and Capgemini, and iNavSat, grouping the European Aeronautic Space and Defense company (EADS), Thales, Inmarsat and SES Global.
"The consortium led by Eutelsat has decided it is not in a position to fulfill the strict demands" of the publicly-funded Galileo project, Eutelsat said.
"Our decision must not be interpreted as a lack of confidence or interest in the Galileo project, which we continue to support as an impressive European initiative of global scope."
The future Galileo operator will be expected to contribute more than 1.4 billion euros (1.7 billion dollars) toward its deployment and would then operate the system from 2008 on a commercial basis to recover its investment.
The remainder of Galileo's 3.2-billion-euro cost is funded by the European Union and the European Space Agency.
Galileo, expected to rival the US global positioning system, will require the launch of about 30 satellites.
