The company is investing £20m in the call centres at Darlington, North Tyneside and Peterlee, bringing its total investment to date in the area to more than £40m.

Orange's chief operating officer Bob Fuller: "North East a centre for mobile industry"

The move doubles Orange's employment in the region and is part of an effort to meet growing demand for its services, the company said.

Orange chief operating officer Bob Fuller said: "Our continued investment in new technology means that we will be first to market with a range of advanced multimedia services, which will continue to drive demand for Orange.

"These new call centres will enable us to meet that demand, maintain our high standards and continue to deliver the best customer service in the industry."

One thousand of the new jobs will be created at the North Tyneside centre on the Cobalt Business Park.

But until it opens in March, Orange will move its staff into offices in the adjacent Siemens site.

Orange has more than 3.14 million customers and claims to be the fastest growing digital mobile phone network in the rapidly-expanding UK market.