Verizon suspends workers who accessed Barack Obama's mobile phone

New York: US mobile-telephone service Verizon Wireless has suspended employees who accessed President-elect Barack Obama's mobile phone account.

The account has been inactive for months, the New Jersey-based company said in a statement.

An Obama aide said his voice-mail messages and e-mails were not breached in the incident.

"We were notified yesterday that employees had accessed the records of an old cell phone no longer in use," the Obama aide said.

All workers who have accessed the account were suspended with pay, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said in the statement, apologising to Obama.

The company let those who had legitimate reasons to view the account return to work but employees who weren't authorized will "face appropriate disciplinary action," McAdam said.

Asked to disclose exactly what kind of information was viewed, the duration and frequency of the unauthorized access, Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson declined comment beyond the statement.