Telecoms company One Communications yesterday revealed pricing for its new $20 million superfast fibre-optic internet service.

A speed of 200 Mbps is targeted to cost $240 a month, while 50 Mbps will come in around $170 a month.

Frank Amaral, chief executive officer of One, said: “The target price for 200 megs is what people today are paying for 25 megs.

“What we’re offering is an 80 per cent plus reduction in price per meg, if you want to look at it that way.”

He added: “Once we get regulatory approval for our new prices, we will be upgrading customers to our new plans. If they want to go faster than that, we can do that as well.”

And Mr Amaral said, along with the new FibreWire cabling and support equipment, a multimillion-dollar improvement to the subsea link between Bermuda and the US was expected to be completed this week.

FibreWire will be linked up to 2,300 households by the end of this month, with complete coverage scheduled by the end of September.

Mr Amaral added: “This is definitely a build that’s going to hold us over for a number of years, certainly for the next five years.

“We are one of the few operators who own their network end to end between getting it into someone’s house and handing that traffic off to someone in the US.

“We’re just wrapping up what is a dramatic expansion in our network. The first phase is a sixfold increase in capacity.”

The firm’s TV service is also set for a major improvement — with new TV boxes a fraction of the size of existing models set for launch before the summer and high-definition viewing as standard.

Mr Amaral said: “There will be dramatic change when the customer turns their TV on. It will be all super-modern and a service unmatched by any other provider.

“We will have the largest number of HD channels and that will basically become the standard. Today, it’s an add-on for the customer, but all these boxes will be HD capable out of the shop.

“There will be no need for a customer to opt in to high definition.

“We will be seeking regulatory approval for this, but the plan is to launch a new TV service.”

Mr Amaral said major investments were possible due to the tie-up with Boston-based ATN, a major investor in One Communications.

He explained: “ATN put in a lot of money so our cash flow is very good. This will be a record year for investment for us — in total, we’re spending around $28 million.

“That’s a big number for a local company. The staff and our customers are excited about these new investments in products that probably haven’t been touched for a while.”

Mr Amaral added: “Some of the naysayers, as we’ve seen on social media and blogs, they’re talking about us only tackling part of the network.”

But he said the range of improvements, some more visible than others, did not require technician visits, trenching or extra cabling to a home.

He added: “The vast majority of people will be able to keep their modems. In addition to the new network, we also have a dedicated team of technicians out in the field who will looking at a number of quality measures on what we call the drops from the poles to houses and we’ll be replacing those drops where the signal levels are poor.

“At the end of this project, which we’re aiming to finish in September, it will be a new or fully-refurbished network in Bermuda.”