Satellite-based technologies provide great advantages for electronic tolling systems, especially when compared to traditional tolling systems that rely on roadside infrastructure.
31 January 2022 (updated 21 July 2025)
The flexibility of satellite positioning technology allows for all road categories to be tolled – not just motorways, highways, or expressways. Rather than tolling specific road networks, satellite technology enables cost-effective tolling of particular vehicle categories on the entire road network. Today, GNSS-based electronic tolling solutions are used to charge trucks above 3.5 tons for road usage on the entire national road network in European countries such as Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Belgium, Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Denmark. In 2021, Poland replaced its microwave-based system with a satellite-based tolling system – just as the Czech Republic did in 2019. Using satellite-based technology not only generates greater toll revenue but eliminates the problem of congestion caused by traffic diversion; vehicles subject to tolls are no longer motivated to drive on alternative routes in order to avoid the distance-based fees since all roads can be tolled without the need for roadside infrastructure.
Thanks to advancements in Global Navigation Satellite Systems technology, positioning accuracy now enables satellite-based On Board Units (OBUs) to determine whether a vehicle has passed a tolled road segment, even in challenging environments where reliable satellite reception has been a problem. Consequently, the motivation for implementing microwave-based tolling solutions – that require costly construction and maintenance of gantries along all of the tolled routes – has declined significantly.
Microwave gantries are scrapped after just 10 years of use.
Since satellite technology has become universally affordable for open road electronic tolling, increasingly more countries are implementing nationwide tolling systems based on GNSS technology. The Czech Republic, which invested heavily in roadside infrastructure for its electronic tolling system in 2007, contracted SkyToll and CzechToll in 2018 to replace the existing microwave-based system with a satellite scheme at the end of 2019 – making most of the gantries installed throughout the country obsolete.
With the new satellite-based tolling system, the operational costs in the Czech Republic have been significantly reduced, while the size of the tolled road network has nearly doubled. Furthermore, trucks are no longer motived to travel on first-class roads to avoid paying the distance-based road user charge. Similarly, Poland has also scrapped its microwave gantries installed throughout the country – after just 10 years of operation.
With GNSS technology, the operational costs of the tolling system in the Czech Republic have been significantly reduced, while the size of the tolled road network has nearly doubled.
New GNSS-based tolling solutions being implemented today
In Europe, the Netherlands is currently implementing a new nationwide truck tolling system to be launched in 2026. The Eastern Region of Alsace in France, is also building its own truck tolling system to charge heavy vehicles which, until now, have been able to travel along the western side of the Rhine River without payments while on the German side of the border, trucks have been paying distance-based fees since 2005. The Grand Est Region of France is also currently procuring a truck tolling system, as is Lithuania. In Asia, satellite-based tolling is also gaining ground as Singapore is installing a new Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) based on GNSS to replace the old system built in 1998, using a multi-lane free flow (MLFF) approach based on microwave technology. In 2025, the next-generation “ERP2” should replace the microwave-based “In Vehicle Unit” with a satellite-based unit, thus eliminating the need for costly roadside infrastructure.
Indonesia awarded the Hungarian company Roatex to build and operate the new satellite-based system in 2021, to replace all toll plazas on the national highways with a new MLFF. Although already partially implemented, the system awaits approval after a change in government. Similarly, India made plans in 2022 to replace more than 700 toll booths on National Highways with a new satellite-based tolling system, which would have made it the largest electronic tolling system in the world covering more than 130,000 kilometers. However, in 2025, the Indian Authorities have started pilot projects for MLFF deployments using the RFID technology which has already been in operation for several years. It remains to be seen when India will be ready to migrate from RFID-based technology to a GNSS-based solution.
With EETS, road users can select a single Toll Service Provider and will need only a single GNSS-based On Board Unit to travel all over Europe.
As satellite-based tolling technology spreads throughout Europe, we are witnessing a complete transformation of the way nationwide tolling schemes are operated. Until recently, each country had a single national toll operator, with a specific OBU hardware designed exclusively for the payment of distance-based tolls on its own road network.
In recent years, we have witnessed the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) sweeping across Europe. Road users that are obliged to pay distance-based tolls can select a single Toll Service Provider, equip their vehicle with a single GNSS-based On Board Unit, and can travel throughout Europe without having to register in each individual country.
Belgium was the first country to launch a nationwide tolling scheme that accepted EETS service providers from the very beginning, in 2016. In the meantime, five companies are now accredited EETS providers in Belgium. Of course, these new Toll Service Providers now offer their services in other European member states as well. Indeed, electronic tolling is undergoing a major transformation in Europe and we can anticipate the spread of GNSS-based tolling systems around the world as well.