Council ditches BT to save taxpayers £20,000 a year

Harrogate Council leaders also complained the phone company's billing system was too complicated, and rival firms were offering a much more convenient on-line system.

The authority currently has an annual phone bill of 170,000. But changes to the market mean that other telecom companies could now compete on an equal footing with BT to woo commercial customers.

As already happens with private phone customers, big organisations can now buy in a billing package from a third party, while still using the BT landline network.

This led council bosses to shop around and it had now been confirmed that the Manchester based Daisy Group could provide the same service 20,000 a year cheaper.

Procurement Officer Jim Brook said: "BT have offered some additional savings but require us to be locked into new three or five-year contracts .

"The BT billing process is over complicated and checking should be easier with the Daisy consolidated on-line billing process, which has been demonstrated to our staff."

The new deal only ties the council into a 12-month contract and will also cut paperwork because council bosses will have full access to billing records via the internet.

Using the system, the council will be able to check the bills in detail and see where high charges are being run-up. The service will include an email alert system to flag up any abuse of the system.

The Daisy Group is an independent telecommunications service provider with more than 30,000 business customers.

It has been involved in a string of takeovers to consolidate the fragmented communications market, spending more than 250m on acquisitions in the past year, including Eurotel and Redstone Telecom.