Abstract: The accurate evaluation of a project directly affects the success of an investment•Owing to the defects of
the conventional method of evaluation, the authors propose the application of real options to assess the investment in
the telecommunication industry to support the strategic decisions•In this essay, the value of opportunity, uncertainty
and flexibility are taken into account, and the investment in network upgrade used as an example is analyzed by the
real options approach•

Key words: realoptions, investmentintelecommunicationindustry, networkupgrade, evaluationofinvestmen