Ageing communications platform gets another boost from the UK public sector

Although seen as outdated by many, the pager still seems to be a popular tool in the UK public sector   Credit: Jack-Benny Persson

The Ministry of Defence has signed a three-year contract worth almost £400,000 with a specialised provider of pager communications.

The department has inked a deal that will see Capita-owned company PageOne provide “paging and messaging services”. The west London-based firm specialises in secure paging technology and services for corporations and the public sector. It also provides customers with SMS, mobile email, and landline telephony offerings.

The contract, which is valued at £382,000, kicked off last month, and runs until September 2020.

Although invariably thought of as an emblem of the 1980s, pagers are seemingly still in vogue in the UK public sector. A month ago, it emerged that 93% of the devices still active in the UK – and about one in 10 of the worldwide total – are owned by the NHS, with the average hospital operating a fleet of about 600.