Waste management firm Biffa plans to integrate 160 waste and recycling depots onto a voice and data Wide Area Network (WAN).

The five-year multimillion-pound deal was agreed last month by Biffa's new private-equity parent company. A phased deployment will begin in August.

Biffa's IT manager, Val Austin, said a technology audit found performance issues in callcentres, which needed addressing.

"We found that the current system we were using to keep in contact with depots, offices and customers was not meeting our performance needs and we needed an IT solution, which could address these issues."

The company will be using the new network to introduce Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as its new way of communicating with depot staff and customers from its callcentres.

"The new system will bridge gaps in our callcentres. We will be able to VoIP-enable our callcentres, and enable our staff to respond to calls much more quickly than before," said Austin.

The WAN will also help relieve Biffa's IT department, with supplier Azzurri providing full service management to Biffa's 5,000 employees.

Austin said: "With a managed service in place, the constant churn of maintenance tasks is removed, and in-house talent can focus on other issues, such as new IT needs for the business."