After more than 4 years of intensive talks, the European Union and the United States concluded an agreement on GALILEO and GPS on 26 June.
The agreement confirms GALILEO and GPS will be fully compatible and interoperable, making GALILEO the de facto world standard of open signals in the GNSS mass market. All users of satellite radio-navigation will be able to simultaneously, with only one receiver, use one or the other of the two systems, or both at the same time.
The European Council of Ministers of Transport is expected to select in December the concessionaire of GALILEO operation among three bidding consortia, and the first satellites will be launched at the end of 2005 so that the system can start operations in 2008.