One of the UK's best known corporate logos, the BT piper, is to be dropped and replaced with a new image.

The piper, introduced in 1991 when the group changed its name from British Telecom to BT, will be gradually replaced by a multi-coloured globe image.

The company said the new image, already in use as the logo of its internet service BT Openworld, was more in tune with its profile as in touch with the multimedia age and conveying a more global reach.

Angus Porter, managing director of BT Retail's consumer division, said: "The piper has done an excellent job for BT and has become one of the country's most recognisable marks.

"While it reflects many of BT's strengths as a company, it has become associated with some outdated perceptions of BT as simply a fixed-line telephone company.

"The new identity reflects a broader world of communications."

Chief executive Ben Verwaayen said there would be no "big bang" advertising campaign to launch the new brand and the group planned to spend less than £5 million on the project.

He added: "We want people to experience the new BT through improved service not through a new logo. Only then will they credit BT with having changed."