Cellular Operations, the Swindon-based mobile phone company, has won one of the most prestigious awards in the UK mobile phone industry.

The company, which has 500 staff and half a million customers, carried off the prize for Best Service Provider at the annual Mobile News Awards.

Sales director Chris Jones accepted the award from entertainer Julian Clary in front of 1,200 invited industry guests at London's Hilton Hotel in Park Lane.

The winner needed to demonstrate excellence in call handling, value added services, churn management, operator training, scope of product portfolio, promotions with other organisations, use of IT, business objectives and customer retention.

The Mobile News Awards are considered to be most prestigious throughout the mobile phone industry because an independent panel of judges chooses the winner.

The chairman of Cellular Operations, Ric Lee, commented: "Over the last two years Cellular Operations has won a number of awards, especially for our futuristic head office building.

"But the Best Service Provider Award is the top accolade in our industry and we're absolutely thrilled to have won it. It's a real tribute to the quality of our staff.

"However, although we're delighted, we recognise that this is just work in progress. We've come a long way but there's still a lot that needs to be done to improve the services we presently offer and to enhance customer satisfaction.

"This is something we will all be giving a lot of thought to in the coming months. More immediately, this award will not only boost staff morale but will also reassure all our customers and dealers that their business is in safe hands with us."

n Cellular Operations is the UK's second largest independent Service Provider of cellular products and services for the UK's biggest mobile networks Vodafone and BT Cellnet.

It provides a complete communications package for some of the UK's biggest companies such as Ford Motor Company Limited, Jaguar, Trafficmaster, Dial a Phone, Volvo, Land Rover and IBM.

Its futuristic building, dubbed the glass cigar, is in Peatmoor.