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The new plans will see the company rollout 450 new 2G base stations to improve coverage and ramp up investment in its HSDPA network, which will offer speeds of 7.2Mb/sec in 30 UK cities, and 14.4Mb/sec in the five biggest cities in the next 18 months.

Orange, which is owned by France Telecom, also intends to combine its mobile and fixed-line broadband arms to develop new services and products such as laptops.

These changes will be backed by an opening of more shops and a reduced

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reliance on Indian-based customer service centres.

Orange claims the changes will result in 500 new jobs by the end of the year and a reduction of up to 450 positions in administration, management and support functions.

"We need to give our customers consistent quality, quality of network, products, service and experience. Delivering that quality will see the number of customers who join, stay and spend with us grow," says Orange chief executive, Tom Alexander.

Alexander, who joined Orange in January from Virgin Mobile, told reporters he could see a time when the company no longer used call centres outside of Britain.

"We will be selling a range of laptops and devices," Alexander told reporters on a conference call. "There is a blurring between laptops and handset devices and there will be a whole range of new devices.

"If you look at sales of dongles at the moment, it's a great growth area. Now, people are expecting internet access wherever they are and that's where we think we've got a great advantage in having fixed and mobile."