500,000 public sector workers on mobile scheme

Half a million public sector workers have now signed up for the government's employee mobile phone scheme.

The Office of Government Commerce today announced it had hit the milestone and in so doing has passed on massive savings to the taxpayer by moving public sector workers onto better value tariffs with Vodafone and Orange

In total, OGCbuying.solutions expects to save the taxpayer £100m by August 2006 - which is the date the newly extended contract is set to run until. Originally it was a three year contract set up in August 2002.

Hugh Barrett, CEO of OGCbuying.solutions, said in a statement: "This agreement means we are helping over half a million workers in the public sector to work more efficiently wherever they might need to be to do their jobs."

"Mobile phones now play an increasingly important role in our day- to-day lives and we are delighted to have been able to negotiate value for money deals with both Orange and Vodafone," he added.

Barrett added that the money saved through the deal can be reinvested in "frontline" services.

Earlier this year research from silicon.com revealed that very few UK companies outside the public sector are offering work mobile phone schemes.