China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp plans to build a global real-time communications satellite network by 2020, a senior company executive said.

Sun Weigang, chief engineer at the State-owned space giant, said the Hongyan satellite system will be composed of 60 small satellites operating in low orbits and 20 ground stations around the world.

The system will provide a wide range of civilian services such as ground data collection and exchange, ship identification and tracking, mobile broadcasting as well as navigation signal enhancement, he said.