Fewer than ten percent of AT&T Wireless customers were left without service after Monday's planned smart card switch over.

Customers were warned to swap the SIM cards for the new ones on Monday to allow the company to expand the number of countries where its phones can be used.

AT&T Wireless Bermuda General Manager Jonathan Koshar said the SIM Card Swap project had been very successful with 91.5 percent of customers responding.

But he said some customers, such as students abroad, might not have not picked up their card or used their phone.

He said: "For customers in the US, UK and Canada we have planted 100 cards in each country that can be shipped overnight to them upon request. The remainder of the 8.5 percent who had not picked up their cards seem to be showing up now since the new card is required to operate their phone."

Staff worked Monday to cope with the rush which continued into Tuesday.

Mr. Koshar said: "A small percentage of our customers are experiencing SIM card errors. For this we need to identify them.

"They need to know that if their phone says `SIM Card Error' they either need to call 500-5000 or stop by our store at 22 Church Street in Hamilton so that we can rectify the issue. We apologise to these customers for the inconvenience."

He said the project would bring down costs which could soon be passed on to customers.