Orange has signed a deal to provide voice, data and mobile broadband services to 10 bodies within the Scottish public sector.
The operator, who won the contract from incumbent Vodafone, is creating a dedicated public sector team to be based in its Greenock call centre, who will manage the implementation and monitor network performance. The bodies include several universities and the Scottish government has predicted the new contract will save it £1.6m during the next four years.
Orange was selected after a two stage procurement process, which included an invitation to tender and a competitive auction. Half of the users will being using the Orange service shortly with the remaining users switching over by mid-2013, when the legacy contracts comes to an end.
Kate Jack, head of public sector and health said: 'By being able to utilise both the Orange and T-Mobile networks, we can promise all users that they will be able to access the biggest mobile network in the UK. In addition, we understand that creating effiency savings in the public sector will continue to be under tough scrutiny over the next few years. However, what is clear is that there is the opportunity for the Scottish government to make these changes through shifting the IT which the organisation uses.'