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The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
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Orange Orange is planning to expand its chain of 350 mobile phone stores to almost 400 this year, having appointed Cushman & Wakefield to find suitable sites. 25-Feb-2008 O2 has sold 46 mobile phone stores to Orange, as part of the ongoing reorganisation of its network following the acquisition of The Link. 09-Nov-2006 Orange is to shed up to 2,000 jobs, following a review of the operational costs in its mobile phones business. 05-May-2006 Orange is in the process of recruiting 700 staff for its mobile phone call centres, including 250 in the south-west and 450 in the north-east. 28-Apr-2005 Orange is planning to shed more than 200 jobs, which will affect its network and technical systems operations in Bristol and elsewhere. 11-Oct-2004 Orange is to expand its chain of 250 mobile phone stores with 20 new sites by the end of the year. 30-Aug-2004 Orange is planning to set up a training academy to improve the quality of its mobile phone sales staff. 01-Dec-2003 Orange is to recruit 140 staff at its mobile phone call centre in Darlington over the coming weeks, as part of an ongoing programme to meet customer demand. 09-Oct-2003 Orange is planning to expand its chain of mobile phone stores and improve its call centre operations, with the creation of 750 jobs over the next year. 03-Oct-2002 Orange is to shed up to 60 call centre jobs in Plymouth, and a further 250 will go at four other centres across the country. 01-Aug-2002 Orange is planning to expand its chain of 215 mobile phone stores to 290 this year. 01-Jul-2002 Orange is recruiting 500 staff for its mobile phone call centres in Darlington, Peterlee and North Tyneside, as part of an ongoing process to replace people who have left. 28-Jun-2002 Orange has announced plans to invest a further £15m in the expansion of its mobile phone network in Northern Ireland over the next two years, which will involve 90 new transmitters. 29-Apr-2002 Orange is planning to open four more mobile phone shops in Northern Ireland, with the creation of 30 jobs. 26-Apr-2001 Orange is to relocate its London headquarters to a new building at Paddington Basin by the end of 2002, which will involve moving 100 staff. 21-Feb-2001 Orange, the mobile phone operator, is to take 135,000 sq ft of office space at the Aztec West business park in Bristol. 05-Feb-2001 Orange has started a recruitment campaign to find an additional 900 staff for its new call centre at the Cobalt Business Park on Tyneside. 05-Oct-2000 Orange has acquired Ananova, the Press Association's new media division, for £95m, leaving PA to focus on the wholesale supply of news and information. 06-Jul-2000 Vodafone AirTouch has agreed to sell its Orange mobile phone business to France Telecom for £31bn, and Orange's existing management team will be retained in preparation for a partial flotation. 31-May-2000 Vodafone AirTouch is in talks to sell its Orange mobile phone business to France Telecom for about £30bn. 26-May-2000 Orange is to create 60 new jobs in Northern Ireland this year, by opening five new mobile phone shops and expanding management and technical support. 15-Mar-2000 Orange has announced plans to create a further 600 jobs at telecoms call centres in Peterlee and North Tyneside. 07-Mar-2000 Orange is to be acquired by Mannesmann for £18bn, as part of the German group's strategy to become a major force in European telecoms. 20-Oct-1999 Orange is to set up a customer call centre in Plymouth at a cost of £8m, with the creation of 1,100 jobs. 21-Sep-1999 National Westminster Bank is linking up with Orange to develop the next generation of cashpoint machines capable of topping up pre-paid mobile phones, greeting customers by name and reminding them of anniversaries. 17-Sep-1999 Orange is to create 2,000 jobs in the north-east by setting up call centres in Darlington, North Tyneside, and Peterlee, at a cost of £20m. 18-Aug-1999 Orange is to launch an internet cafe with video conferencing under the Studio brand in Birmingham in September, and the concept will then be rolled out across the country. 30-Jul-1999 Orange has announced plans to offer cut-price internet access through mobile phones from October, including services such as news, travel information and online banking. 02-Jul-1999 British Aerospace is to raise about £700m by selling its 5% stake in the Orange mobile phone group through a eurobond issue. 23-Jun-1999 Orange is to launch a range of information services for its cellular phone subscribers later this year, including news, entertainment, traffic, and banking. 18-Mar-1999 Orange is bidding for a mobile phone licence to operate in Hungary, in partnership with Callahan Associates International. 11-Mar-1999 Orange is to recruit an extra 2,000 staff in the UK over the next two years to cope with rising demand for mobile phones, and is seeking to acquire more stakes in operators in mainland Europe. 26-Feb-1999 Turner & Townsend Group has won a contract from Orange to manage the installation of microcells throughout the country, in order to increase the capacity of Orange's mobile phone network. 14-Dec-1998 Orange is to create 300 jobs at a new mobile phone call centre in Peterlee, East Durham. 26-Nov-1998 Orange is planning to move into the business telephone market with a corporate switchboard system that treats mobile phones as if they were conventional extensions, and a dedicated call centre will be set up to support the service. 05-Oct-1998 Orange Communications is to license its brand to Hutchison Telecom in Hong Kong, as part of a strategy to build up a global brand. 24-Sep-1998 Orange is licensing its brand to Partner Communications, the Israeli mobile phone operator, and a series of similar deals are expected in countries such as Belgium and Switzerland. 15-Sep-1998 Orange is planning to launch its joint venture cellular phone service in Belgium later this year, and Switzerland and Austria will follow next year. 11-Aug-1998 Orange has announced new tariffs for its mobile phone service that are designed to encourage people to switch from fixed line communications, and it has also pledged to launch a mobile videophone within 18 months. 24-Jun-1998 Orange has won a mobile telephone licence in Switzerland, as part of a consortium with Viag, Swissphone Engineering and Cantonal Bank of Vaud. 21-Apr-1998 Orange and One 2 One are to get more marketing freedom following a decision by the telecoms industry regulator to stop forcing them to provide airtime to mobile service providers after a 12-month transition period. 10-Apr-1998 British Aerospace has sold most of its 16% stake in Orange, the mobile phone operator, in order to focus on its defence business. 27-Mar-1998 Orange is planning to offer a live video service over its mobile phone network within 15 months, and will also launch new domestic and office mobile phone packages with lower tariffs. 13-Mar-1998 Orange has formed a consortium with KPN to bid for Belgium's third mobile phone licence. 17-Feb-1998 Orange has awarded a £240m contract to Nokia of Finland for equipment that will enable hand-held phones to access the internet, TV and home shopping. 08-Jan-1998 Orange is reducing the price of international phone calls for its mobile phone customers, undercutting British Telecom by 20%. 22-Sep-1997 Orange is planning to double its capital expenditure over the next two years to £800m, increasing the number of cellular phone base stations from 2,900 to 6,000 by 1999. 15-Aug-1997 Orange has a 17.5% stake in a consortium called Connect Austria that has just been awarded a £109m mobile phone licence to set up a GSM 1800 network in Austria. 02-Aug-1997 Hutchison Whampoa is to provide financial support to Orange's plans for the overseas expansion of its mobile phone business, an undertaking which will reassure investors over the effect it will have on Orange's UK business. 25-Jan-1997 Orange is to join a consortium to bid for a licence to run a mobile phone network in the Netherlands. 16-Jan-1997 Vodafone is trebling its advertising budget to £20m, in response to the £30m spent by Orange. 13-May-1996 Orange hopes to raise over £530m from next month's flotation, after which it will be 50.49% owned by Hutchison Whampoa and 22.92% by British Aerospace. 29-Feb-1996 Orange, the mobile phone concern, has announced its flotation plans which may see it capitalised at up to £2.8bn. 23-Jan-1996 Orange, the mobile phone network, expects to float in New York and London in March, with Hutchison Whampoa and British Aerospace selling 25% of their stakes. 12-Jan-1996 Hutchison Orange gained 50,000 new digital phone customers in December, well up on expectations. 05-Jan-1996 Hutchison Telecommunications is to make Darlington the customer services base for its Orange network, creating 500 jobs. 01-Dec-1995 Hutchison Telecommunications is raising a £1.2bn loan to develop its Orange mobile phone network. 02-Nov-1995 Hutchison Telecom, operator of the Orange network, plans a flotation on the stock market next year, valuing it at £2bn. 17-Sep-1995 The information above comes from the UK Activity Report Copyright UK Business Park 1995-2008