ENERGIS AND ORANGE SIGN NETWORK-SHARING DEAL FOR BUSINESS MOBILE SERVICE.

British business telecommunications and Internet company Energis announced on 19 July that it is to introduce a new business mobile service in the United Kingdom in the Autumn. Under a three-year agreement with UK mobile telephony provider Orange, Energis will offer Energis-branded mobile services over Orange's GSM 1800 network, acting as a mobile virtual network operator. Sales and marketing of the service will be conducted by Energis, which is 37.5%-owned by the UK power utility National Grid, while Orange will be responsible for customer services, technical support and billing. Energis is the third biggest company on the UK telecoms market, behind British Telecommunications (BT) and Cable and Wireless The service marks Energis' first entry into mobile services for businesses and a reciprocal clause in the agreement will enable Orange to offer a fixed-line service to its customers via Energis. Energis' Chief Executive noted that business customers increasingly want to source all their communications, Internet and e-business needs from a...