Inadequate billing costs telecoms users £1bn per year

The Telecommunications Managers Association (TMA) estimates that poor billing practices are costing corporate telecoms users up to £1bn a year.

Paul Fegan, chairman of the TMA Billing Group, and former telecoms manager at MFI, said: "If you take the amount of money spent on telecoms, a lot is spent on the back-office to check bills for discrepancies, or general admin. That can add up to a significant amount of the overall spend.

In an attempt to stem that wastage, the TMA has launched an initiative called the Business for Business (BfB) Analyzer. It provides a Web-based portal that brings together suppliers and end users, - and lets users complain to suppliers about practices that are costing them money.

Eight suppliers have already provided comprehensive data on the rates they charge, including BT, Energis, Global One and NTL, but TMA claims another eight suppliers are in the pipeline.

"With the Analyzer, everyone is using the same check list. All the suppliers are using the same information and a user can choose a supplier based on whether it can meet their billing requirements," he added.

David Walker, European telecommunications manager at Unisys, argued that the TMA initiative will help suppliers better understand users' needs. "Suppliers need to become more flexible with timing and practices - for example they should be doing more to provide electronic billing - this will hopefully go a long way to providing that information," he said.

The TMA has been working on ways to improve billing practices among telecos since September 1998. However, it says BfB Analyzer is the first time both suppliers and customers can have a Web-based shop window for billing offerings.