applied for by the Bermuda Telephone Co. this year.

BTC CEO Lorraine Lyle conceded that as the company continues an ongoing review of the rate structure, in an attempt to unbundle the rates, more proposals will go before the Telecommunications Commission.

She said, "The commission can expect to see more filings this year.'' Meanwhile, the two operating long distance providers, Cable & Wireless and TeleBermuda International, said they are committed to passing on savings to customers.

BTC followed the directives of the Telecommunications Commission and cut as of January 1 the interconnection rates it charges to long distance carriers from 27 cents to 15 cents a minute for outgoing calls -- a reduction of 12 cents.

Cable & Wireless Bermuda followed suit with a reduction of 10 cents a minute on long distance charges.

Product manager Paul Furbert said, "Following BTC's interconnect charge reduction, we immediately moved to reduce our rates by 10 cents per minute on all overseas calls in which BTC provide the local link.

"This brings our rates in line with those already offered to our customers who are served by the other local carrier, Quantum Communications.

"The remaining two cents per minute will also be passed on to our customers, but in the form of a range of customised discount calling plans and packages shortly to be introduced.

"These plans will result in savings of considerably more than two cents per minute. Simply passing on all savings `across the board' denies us the flexibility necessary to introduce these discount calling plans.

"It is likely that when the interconnect charge is reduced again (down to 10 cents per minute July 1), the savings will also be passed on in the form of further incentive calling plans and packages.'' Meanwhile, new TeleBermuda general manager, James Fitzgerald could not indicate any deeper reduction in prices offered by his company at this time.

But he emphasised that even with the reductions taken by his competitor, TeleBermuda still offered competitive pricing. Mr. Fitzgerald said, "When this company went into business, it automatically discounted our competitor's rates by 15 percent in general, especially in the high volume areas.

"At July 1, when the interconnection charge is further reduced, we still have to ensure that our customers get the lowest rate possible.

"July 1 is a while away. We have to institute the appropriate rate for customers so they can do proper planning. We will be making some overall changes to make sure they are very competitive.'' BTC upgrading services The lowest C&W and TeleBermuda rates per minute to the US are 65 cents and 63 cents, respectively; to Canada, 85 cents and 80 cents, respectively; and, to the UK, $1.15 and $1.06, respectively.

Meanwhile, although BTC were told by the Telecommunications Commission to lower the interconnection charges to force long distance rate cuts, the firm is trying to avoid the anticipated more than $10-million reduction in revenue.

BTC has applied to increase domestic service rate charges. It needs capital to continue its ongoing infrastructure investment, as Bermudians and business seek a wider array of telecommunications services.

"We're currently working on marketing plans for what services we need to introduce,'' Ms Lyle said.

"As we enter the new era of telecommunications, value-added services and data type services are the growth opportunities in the marketplace. A lot of our focus is going to be expanding what service we have.

"We will be looking at more vertical services, and expand our marketing thrust in this area, trying to provide more of those services. We will also look at new options that we have on the switches for those types of services.

"In the cellular realm, we will be looking at what we can offer for expanded value-added features.

"We are upgrading our digital cellular service. It will be an even more feature-rich cellular service, including services that are right now only available on the wire line `phones.'' BTC will install the latest generation of software. This year, the company will spend significant sums on major upgrades to both the wire line and the wireless services.

"We're in the process,'' said Ms Lyle, "of doing major upgrades now to all of our switches. And with the year 2000 getting closer, a number of other upgrades are being done.'' The company is also working on its first international roaming agreement that will allow cellular telephone owners more flexibility of use during travel.

Discussions began with a brokerage organisation this past fall that will cover certain North American markets. And there are future plans to cover Europe and Asia.

But she noted: "There are a number of cellular companies in the US, so you are not going to be covered in every North American city. One hundred percent ubiquitous coverage with cellular services, the way cellular agreements currently work, is difficult.

"Of course, there are also the Globalstars of the world. With low earth orbit (LEO), Globalstar customers will have global roaming, because they are satellite-oriented. Globalstar has launched satellites and they will be providing service later this year.

"And similarly, Iridium has just done a primary launch of their service. So things should be happening this year.

"We are a Globalstar franchisee, and so it is a new service that we can add to our cellular portfolio.''