Apparently, a market for consumer devices based on GLONASS may still form in Russia, as both industry representatives and officials at various levels have long been saying. It seems that a way to "introduce" GLONASS into the mass segment has finally been found. Moreover, this method does not require creating GLONASS-GPS receivers whose characteristics (dimensions, power consumption, cost) would be comparable to GPS counterparts.
Within the framework of the initiative, at the first stage it is planned to equip 10 to 15 thousand cars with such systems right on the AVTOVAZ assembly line, and already in 2009. For the next year, in 2010, similar equipment is planned to be installed on certain trim levels of the Kalina family.
Currently, the project is at the final stage of approval. The cost of the first stage is estimated at several tens of millions of dollars.
The project is actively promoted by the government, including the Federation Council, as well as the administrations of the president and the prime minister. Their motivation is obvious: such "forced" equipping of cars with the GLONASS system will almost instantly create consumer demand for the Russian navigation network — a task that has not been solved by any other state support measures so far.
In addition, at the government level, the introduction of restrictive measures is being actively discussed, in particular customs duties on devices with GPS support (including car navigators), to further stimulate the domestic navigation market. A week earlier, the head of Roscosmos, A. Perminov, made a similar proposal. Apparently, the idea of introducing such barriers is being seriously discussed at the highest level, and now it has a solid practical basis in the form of an alternative to "Western" navigation systems.
It also became known about negotiations to attract AFK Sistema structures to the project. It is planned to integrate a high-speed mobile Internet module into the platforms, which will allow launching a whole range of additional services: remote tracking of the car's location, a satellite security system, displaying real-time traffic information on the multimedia system screen, as well as other location-based services. AFK Sistema (owner of MTS) could increase its subscriber base by at least several hundred thousand connections annually, and those that actively generate mobile Internet traffic.
The multimedia system with GLONASS navigation will appear on the Priora already in the autumn of this year. And the crisis is unlikely to hinder this — VAZ has been promised state support of up to 90 billion rubles (2.8 billion dollars). These funds will be enough both for current needs and for completing the equipping of the Priora, and for preparing multimedia systems for other, newer models.
