Vodafone will be supplying 50,000 mobile phones, equipping around a third of Unilever's staff, as part of a deal to make the company more mobile as well as more communicative.

As well as providing mobile phones, and management tools to let the company see exactly how much its spending and where, Vodafone will be providing consultants to help Unilever work out which parts of the business could take advantage of greater mobility.

To make sure there are staff capable of implementing new mobile methods, the companies will be swapping graduate trainees for a while, so those planning a career within Unilever can learn about mobile telecommunications and those at Vodafone can find out what soap is really made of.

The deal covers 63 countries over the next three years, with both companies spouting the usual stuff about increasing efficiencies and reduced environment impact in a template press release. ®