Centrica has signed a £79m, five-year contract with Cable & Wireless (C &W) to implement and support a next-generation telecoms infrastructure.

The network will connect 61 sites at the British Gas owner, consolidating existing communications onto the single platform. C&W will provide managed services covering a total of 111 sites.

The move to an IP-based network is designed to streamline Centrica's existing systems.

In May this year the firm signed an application management and support services deal worth £2.1m with Fujitsu.