Option is a publicly quoted technology company, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium. Option specializes in the design, development, production and commercialization of

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

technology devices. Option has been awarded

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

's ‘Company of the Year’ award for 2005.

Products

Remarkable was the GlobeTrotter Fusion+ card which was the first to integrate

HSDPA High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunic ...

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...

EDGE Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...

technologies on a single data card. Option was the worldwide market leader in the wireless broadband

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

(other market contestants are either significantly smaller, or do not consider wireless broadband a

core business The core business of an organization is an idealized construct intended to express that organization's "main" or "essential" activity. Core business process means that a business's success depends not only on how well each department performs its ...

– for example NEC Corporation), and could benefit from high margins across the whole product range. Intentions from a new

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

partnership which would deteriorate Option's market share were short-lived and quickly dropped, proving Option's leadership as well as high entry-to-market barriers even for large corporations. Most production took place at

Jabil Jabil Inc. is an American worldwide manufacturing services company. Headquartered in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Florida, it is one of the largest companies in the Tampa Bay area. Jabil has around 100 plants in 30 countries, and 260, ...

in Bergamo, Italy, while

Celestica Celestica Inc. is a Canadian multinational electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. History Leadership Celestica's President and CEO is Rob Mionis. Mionis took over leadership on 1 August 2015 af ...

in Kladno,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, provides additional capacity. Nowadays, all manufacturing of devices is done in

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...

, China. The products were marked as having been designed in Leuven, but actually are refurbished and labelled in Ireland.

Financials

Initial market panic stemming from the announced Intel-Nokia deal did cause Option's share price to drop significantly in 2006, losing more than 23% in one day on September 28, which lies, together with the severe Chinese competition, at the basis of the downfall of the company .

Customers

Option's revenues substantially declined last years. In the past, Option had the following customers in their portfolio

Sharp Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products, headquartered in Sakai-ku, Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. Since 2016 it has been majority owned by the Taiwan-based Foxconn Group. Sharp employs more than 5 ...

Wataniya Telecom Ooredoo Kuwait, formerly known as Wataniya Telecom, is a telecommunications company in Kuwait owned by the Ooredoo group. Its operations began in December 1999 when it launched wireless services as the second operator. It provides mobile, broa ...

Fujitsu Siemens Fujitsu Siemens Computers GmbH was a Japanese and Germany, German vendor of information technology. The company was founded in 1999 as a 50/50 joint venture between Fujitsu, Fujitsu Limited of Japan and Siemens of Germany. On April 1, 2009, the c ...

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic ( T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland ( T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobil ...

Cingular AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the th ...

Wireless (now AT&T),

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

, Acer, Uniwill,

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of the Samsung chaebol, a ...

and Telenor, to name but a few.

References and footnotes

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.option.com
Usage of a GlobeTrotter Fusion+ card under DebianDOVADO routers supporting Option USB modemsExternal antennas for Option's USB and PC-card modems
Companies based in Leuven Telecommunications companies of Belgium Companies established in 1986 Telecommunications equipment vendors 1986 establishments in Belgium