GPS monopoly

The U.S. has had a monopoly on satellite-based location systems over the years (the Russian GLONASS, Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System, has really never been a viable player), but that may soon change.

The European Union is moving toward deploying its own positioning system called Galileo. If everything goes as planned, Galileo will be operational by 2008 with a constellation of 30 stationary satellites. Position accuracy is touted as within a meter, which is ten times more precise than what GPS currently provides to civilians. The United States isn’t happy about this; as an alternative, GPS prevents the U.S. government and military from selectively degrading signals and blocking use elsewhere in the world. China, Israel, and India have expressed interest in becoming involved with Galileo. As of early 2004, after a number of negotiation sessions, the U.S. and European Union had reached a number of compromises that met both parties’ needs.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_transport/galileo/index_en.htm