Mobile phone firm Orange is redeploying 100 staff from its Solihull office to the Northeast as part of a new service strategy designed to support the changing needs of customers.

The French-owned company said the proposed realignment of customer services also included a consolidation of Orange contact centres in the North-east, with 900 staff currently working in its Peterlee, County Durham, contact centre being moved to its Darlington and North Tyneside contact centres.

Orange added that the proposed closure of the Peterlee contact centre would deliver considerable cost savings.

In May, Orange announced that it aimed to be "15 per cent leaner", resulting in significant annual savings and a streamlined, more efficient organisation, which could result in a potential loss of approximately 1,800 jobs across all departments.

If an employee currently working in Peterlee or Solihull is unable to take an offer of redeployment and opts for redundancy, it will form part of the projected 1,800 affected roles previously announced.

Mike Hughes, vice-president of customer services for Orange, said: "Orange is renowned for offering the best customer service and we want to keep it that way.

"We plan to re-invest the savings made from the proposed site changes into our key business areas to provide enough employment in the North-east for all our frontline staff.

"Our aim is to ensure they are equipped with all of the tools and skills they need to keep our customers satisfied while ensuring that Orange as a business remains agile, coordinated and able to continue to deliver a first class experience."

He added: "As one of the first truly converged communications companies the services we can offer are evolving rapidly and, consequently, so are the needs of our customers.

"That's why this proposal is right for our business, right for our customers and will bring new skills and opportunities to our employees."

Orange said it intended to re-skill hundreds of staff in line with changing customer demands to ensure they have the time and ability to deal with more complex issues and resolve them quickly and effectively.

The company added that it plans to add a further 300 front line staff to its overseas customer service team in India. They will support the existing 1000-strong team who already work for Orange in India, dealing with basic customer questions and account enquiries.

Orange is currently evolving from a pure mobile operator to become an integrated mobile, broadband, fixed-line and home TV company.

Steve Aumayer, vice-president of business support, said: "These will be big changes for our company. While we're excited that we can now offer so much more than pure mobile and excited by the opportunities this offers our business, we are also aware how change can unsettle our employees.

"That's why we will ensure there are enough opportunities in other sites across the North-east to safeguard the jobs of our Peterlee and Solihull customer service employ-ees should they choose to move."