On the Business Case Issue for LEO-PNT

Bernd Eissfeller, Thomas Pany

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	In Europe, the LEO-PNT discussion started in 2022 with some fundamental technical system studies. The three basic technical concepts, SOOP, Fused and dedicated LEO-PNT were investigated and compared for a European way forward. However, one open and controversial issue in all international developments is the question whether a LEO-PNT should be built-up with a purely commercial investment (including user charging) or with classical governmental and/or institutional funding. Or in other words: “Who is willing to pay for the LEO advantages (robustness, resilience, faster PPP-convergence)?” In a German LEOPNT study we analyzed this important context: Will the commercial funding situation in LEO-PNT be different and superior in comparison to the free-of-charge MEO based satellite navigation systems? In this paper we try to look in more detail into this problem area: Firstly, we will describe a cost-model for the CapEx (Capital Expenditures) and the OpEx (Operational Expenditures) which we developed for the German Space Agency (DLR) in a national LEO-PNT study. As a blueprint we modified the cost models for satellite communication with respect to navigation. Secondly, based on the European Union GNSS market studies (2022) we will identify the size of user groups who are potentially already used to pay for GNSS services or may be willing to pay a subscription fee for LEO-PNT in future. The GNSS market was segmented into high volume GNSS, safety critical GNSS, high accuracy GNSS, timing GNSS and security critical GNSS users. This is of course a simplified formulation, which is, however, necessary to process the aggregated numbers from the market reports. Thirdly, we outline and try to estimate the typical user subscription fee (€ year) for a fully commercialized LEO-PNT approach.
Published in:	Proceedings of the ION 2026 Pacific PNT Meeting April 13 - 16, 2026 Hilton Waikiki Beach Honolulu, Hawaii
Pages:	714 - 728
Cite this article:	Eissfeller, Bernd, Pany, Thomas, "On the Business Case Issue for LEO-PNT," Proceedings of the ION 2026 Pacific PNT Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 2026, pp. 714-728. https://doi.org/10.33012/2026.20585
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In