BEIJING — China's satellite navigation industry keeps growing, as the number of the BeiDou terminal products put into use increased by 20 percent last year.

The data was released on May 14 at the launch of a platform, initiated by 12 Chinese centrally-administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) for the collaborative development with the fast-growing industry.

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is China's independently developed and globally operated navigation system. According to 2019 data, more than 80 million sets of BDS terminal products had come into service by the end of 2018.

Apart from a 20 percent increase, the applications of the BDS have been promoted in the countries and regions along the Belt and Road. Users of BeiDou navigation and positioning services exceeded 500 million.

In recent years, the central SOEs have undertaken various national projects related to the BeiDou industry, giving a strong boost to its service capacity.

The newly-launched platform will focus on improving innovation, competitiveness, and influence of the industry, with more advanced technologies and products as well as business models.

Some SOEs are speeding up the construction of a service platform for the regional short message communications of the BDS-3 system, which will promote the integration of the BDS with technologies such as 5G, big data, and cloud computing, officials said at the launch.