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2002 |
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OPTION TO SUPPLY GPRS DATA
CARD TO ORANGE
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FOR RELEASE: JULY
3, 2002
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LONDON, UK & LEUVEN, BELGIUM - Option, the leading
innovator in wireless communications, today announced
that they have signed an agreement to supply their
Option’s Globetrotter tri-band GPRS/GSM PC
Card to leading mobile communications company Orange
UK. Globetrotter will appear under the Orange brand
style and will be launched by Orange as the OPTION
GPRS Data Card.
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John Allwood, CEO of Orange UK, said:
“Thousands of Orange business customers are already
benefiting from our High Speed Data card and the OPTION
GPRS Data Card further complements the choice of wirefree™
solutions that we currently offer our customers. By offering
customers both circuit switched and packet based solutions,
through a variety of methods, Orange has the strongest
mobile data offering in the UK.”
Users of the OPTION GPRS Data Card will benefit from the
fully customized applications and connection management
software. First and foremost the OPTION GPRS Data Card
will be promoted within Orange UK’s expanding corporate
customer base. Particular attention has been paid to making
the product easy to use for the mobile road warrior to
the extent of having pre-installed communications settings
for its global Orange networks as well as its international
GPRS roaming partners.
Jan Callewaert, CEO at Option, said: "Orange UK is
one of the few mobile operators that has experience in
selling data solutions within the corporate sector. Up
until now these services have been based on HSCSD technology.
The advent of GPRS network coverage in the UK combined
with the new OPTION GPRS Data Card, providing data speeds
of up to 56Kbs, enables Orange to further focus on increasing
the use of data in the UK business market. This agreement
with Orange in the UK follows earlier agreements made
with Mobistar in Belgium and Orange in France making this
the third agreement with a member of the Orange Group”.
The OPTION GPRS Data Card for Orange is currently being
manufactured at Option’s ISO 9002 rated facility
in Cork, Ireland. The card will be available for purchase
by Orange customers immediately.
About Option – “Wireless
Technology” – Nasdaq Europe: OPIN
Option is the leading innovator in wireless communications.
The company designs, develops and manufactures a family
of products for wireless solutions. Option has built up
an enviable reputation for creating exciting new products
that enhance the performance and functionality of wireless
communications. Option’s headquarters are in Leuven,
Belgium. The company has R&D centers in Leuven, Cambridge
(UK) and Adelsried (Germany) and a production engineering
facility in Cork, Ireland.
For more information about Option, please visit www.option.com
About Orange
- Orange, wirefree and any other
Orange product or service referred to in this release
are trademarks of Orange.
- Orange provides a broad range of personal communications
services, including Orange GSM 1800 services and other
digital cellular telephone services.
- In August 2000 Orange plc was acquired by France
Telecom, leading to the creation of Europe’s
second largest mobile operator. The new Orange has
operations in 20 countries across Europe and beyond,
and aims to have a presence in markets covering 1.5
billion people worldwide by 2005.
- As at the end of March 2002, Orange had over 12.7
million customers in the UK, 18.3 million in France
and approximately 40.5 million controlled customers
worldwide.
- The Oftel network performance survey, published
in June 2002 showed that on a percentage basis, Orange
had more calls which were successful overall than
any other operator. In the survey, which was audited
by BABT, Orange was shown to have an overall call
success rate of 97.8% of calls connected and completed
successfully. Other networks’ comparable figures
were Vodafone 97.5%, O2 97.3% and T-Mobile 95.1%.
- In May 2002, the fifth annual J.D. Power and Associates
UK Mobile Customer Satisfaction Study showed that
Orange ranks as the number one telephone service for
customer satisfaction in the contract sector. Orange
has ranked number one for customer satisfaction for
both contract and prepay customers in every J.D. Power
and Associates UK Mobile Customer Satisfaction Study
since 1998.
- Orange provides high quality coverage to 99% of
the UK population and over 80% of the geographic area.
Coverage is based on hand portable, unlike some other
operators which choose to base their coverage on boosted
car kits.
- Orange UK now offers roaming in 122 countries on
268 networks.
- Information about Orange can be found on the Orange
website at www.orange.co.uk
and media information can be found at www.orange.com
For further information, call the Orange media
centre on 020 7984 2000
Laurent De Hauwere
Option n.v.
+32 (0)16 317 411 (office)
+32 (486) 20 20 20 (mobile)
ldh@option.com
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