EXECUTIVES at communications firm Orange believe the jobs of call centre staff in the North-East are safe, despite the maturity of the mobile phone industry.

While the majority of calls to helplines are made during the initial stages of mobile phone ownership, staff are being given extra duties, leading to better job security, they claim.

John Allwood, Orange's UK executive vice president, was speaking on the day the company, which employs about 5,000 staff in the region, announced an 86 per cent increase in underlying earnings in its 2001 financial results.

Although there was a reduction in calls to the centres, such as those in Darlington, Peterlee and Silverlink, North Tyneside, which employ the majority of Orange's staff in the region, new jobs such as proactive outbound calls were keeping the staff busy.

"We have built up a strong workforce and we are starting to use them in a wider variety of tasks," said Mr Allwood.

However, there were slightly fewer people in the call centres than a year ago, he said.

But, he said: "The North-East, and the call centres there, are and will continue to be an integral part of the Orange operation and we are very happy with the quality of the work and the people who are there."

The year's results also saw the company establish a market leading position in the UK and group earnings before tax and exceptional items rose to 3.29bn euros (£2.04bn).

But at the bottom-line level Orange's full-year figures were hurt by the write-down of its investment in German operation Mobilcom.

The non-cash item of 3.43bn euros (£2.13bn) pushed Orange's net loss down to 4.52bn euros (£2.8bn) from 1.32bn euros a year earlier.

However, Orange said its base of 12.4m customers gave it an estimated market share of 28 per cent and the title of the UK's largest operator.

In the UK, turnover increased by 27 per cent to 5.34bn (£3.3bn) and underlying earnings rose 68 per cent to 1.28bn (£793.4m).

Orange said it would meet financial goals set at the time of its stock market listing last year ahead of schedule, with the UK expected to reach margin targets at least 12 months earlier than expected.

Deputy chief executive Graham Howe said: "Last year, the group produced a very strong performance, operationally and financially.

''Targets have been accelerated, positive revenue per user trends confirmed and non-voice revenues driven higher."

Orange added that capital expenditure in the UK increased by 12 per cent to 1.27bn euros as it began to acquire sites for the launch of 3G technology.