LANCASHIRE County Council claims to have cut the cost of its inter-office phone calls by one third - whilst boasting a communication network that moves at the speed of light.

Thanks to Norweb Communications, the council has installed a high-speed digital system which runs under the streets of Preston, transferring vital data and voice traffic from office to office.

LCC's communications manager, Rick Woods, said: "Our business increasingly depends on information sharing and efficient public service.

"Thanks to this new system, we are cutting the cost of 'phone calls by about a third while increasing the speed of data-exchange by a staggering 242,000 per cent.

"We are now well prepared for the demands of the 21st century."

Norweb's Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) fibre-optic system links six sites in Preston, including County Hall, Winckley House, East Cliff and the Park Hotel, which have access to shared computer and telephone networks which means calls made by staff between their offices are free.

Plans are now under way to integrate premises in Accrington, Burnley and Lancaster.

Council advice lines for services such as nurseries, schools, social services and property maintenance will now use 0800 FreeConnect and 0845 LocalConnect numbers to help cut the cost of calls for the local community.

The government's National Grid For Learning target is to provide 50 per cent of schoolchildren with an e-mail address by 2002.

The council already uses Norweb's NORWEB.net package to provide the county's schools with Internet and e-mail connections and is well on the way to supplying all schoolchildren with e-mail addresses.

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