A major proportion of Thales Alenia Space's business is centered around the production of communications satellites, in which it is a world leader. During 2010, Thales Alenia Space received a $2.9 billion fixed-price contract to manufacture a total of 81 satellites for Iridium Communications' NEXT satellite telephony network. It is also engaged in producing a separate batch of 24 satellites for Globalstar's second generation network. The firm is also responsible for producing satellites for Galileo, a European global satellite navigation system (GSNS).