DigitalGlobe and GeoEye are not the only commercial satellite companies providing high resolution imagery to governments. In Europe, Astrium is talking about its new satellite offerings, and positioning itself and the merged DigitalGlobe as the world's leading providers of imagery:

Patrick Le Roch, director of Astrium Services’ Geo-Information division, said the proposed merger of DigitalGlobe and GeoEye “creates a de facto duopoly between us and the merged U.S.