Inmarsat Ventures, EADS Space and the Thales Group have submitted a joint tender to become a concessionaire for the multi-billion dollar European Galileo satellite navigation project. The bid by the three companies has been submitted to the Galileo Joint Undertaking, which is managing the development phase of Galileo on behalf of the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA).

The group selected as the concessionaire for the project is expected to take the lead in arranging for private financing of the deployment and operational phases of Galileo, and ultimately would become the Galileo operating company. SES Global [Luxembourg: SESG] announced separately that it was supporting the bid as an associated partner.