Negotiations for the sale of overseas telephone carrier TeleBermuda International are in their "final days", TBI chief executive James Fitzgerald said yesterday.

But he said the approval on Wednesday of a reorganisation plan of TBI's parent company, 360networks, will have no effect on the sale talks.

Mr. Fitzgerald said yesterday that he welcomed the news that a Vancouver court had approved the troubled telecommunications company's reorganisation and that US approval was likely to be forthcoming. "That's good news for 360 that they did receive approval in Canada and I believe they will in the US," he said. "But it does not have any impact on TeleBermuda or (TBI's direct owner Globenet). We are the final days of the sale and hope to be able to advise on a decision shortly."

Mr. Fitzgerald said he could not comment on whether TBI was in negotiations with a single buyer or with more than one. 360networks plans to emerge from bankruptcy protection as a North American-based operation. The company has a buyer for its transatlantic cable from Nova Scotia to Ireland. Mt. Fitzgerald said TBI's own cable connections would be unaffected by the sale, said to be for far less than the $800 million the cable cost to build, because 360 went into bankruptcy before it could physically link the two cables.

Instead, TBI connects with other carriers such as AT&T and British Telecom. 360networks sought court protection from creditors in June 2001, and was among the first major network providers to crumble in the collapse of the telecoms sector, which has since claimed rival Global Crossing. At that time, 360networks said it had $1.2 billion in secured debt, $1.4 billion in unsecured bond debt and $250 million in unsecured North American trade debt.