Vodafone UK has launched a service for businesses to send and receive text messages from their PCs.

The company said its Vodafone Text Centre integrates with Microsoft Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes. The software is free of charge and can be downloaded by individuals or a company IT department.

Once installed, the Vodafone Text Centre option is added onto the email inbox menu.

Text messages can be sent to a single recipient or a broader distribution list and the sender is able to choose whether replies are sent back to their email inbox or to a mobile phone.

Customers are charged for messages they send on their monthly phone bill.

Kyle Whitehill, enterprise business unit director for Vodafone UK, said in a statement: "Vodafone Text Centre will provide our business customers with a simple, fast and secure way to communicate short information, such as sales messages, to both clients and staff."

Businesses can also use the service to set up alerts to their phone for calendar appointments and incoming emails, reminding them of urgent issues wherever they are.

Vodafone said that text messaging is one of the most effective ways for companies to communicate, as 94 per cent of texts are opened and read.