Wireless, reports Ahmed ElAmin . Now the company is asking for unfettered competition.

With its customer base being eroded by competitor TeleBermuda Ltd., Cable & Wireless Plc has asked Government to lift price control restrictions on the company.

Cable & Wireless' local general manager Colin Little, who recently replaced John Tibbles, said the company had lost over 25 percent of its market in terms of international calling minutes.

"We believe that the time has now come for Cable & Wireless to be despecified,'' Mr. Little said yesterday during an interview.

TeleBermuda entered the market last May for calls going outside of Bermuda last year under Government's plan to introduce competition to the telecommunications sector. The company is competing by offering rates 15 percent below those of Cable & Wireless.

In introducing competition Government stated in a policy paper that restrictions would be kept on incumbents like Cable & Wireless to prevent the lowering of prices below profitable rates to drive out the competition.

The policy paper stated regulation would be used as a tool to "ensure a level playing field between incumbent carriers and new entrants and to prevent the abuse of market power by those possessing on it.'' "It will likely take a period of years for competition to replace regulation as a reliable mechanism to prevent abuse of market power and protect the public from possible over-charging.'' Government's Telecommunications Commission, which oversees the market, has asked Cable & Wireless to submit a comprehensive plan along with set floor prices before it will be allowed to lower its rates.

Mr. Little said such a plan has now been submitted.

"I am sure we will get the right answer within the next few weeks,'' he said.

He believes international calling rates could be reduced by up to 50 percent over the next three years. This could mainly be achieved through the reduction of the subsidy of local calls through the payments international telephone companies pay to the Bermuda Telephone Co. for the local interconnections.

For example 30 percent of the price of a call to the US goes to the Bermuda Telephone Co. Ltd. (BTC).

Mr. Little said Cable & Wireless would respond to the competition locally by doing more marketing of its services. The company would also be "remodelled'' to become more efficient, he said.

Cable & Wireless employs about 120 staff in Bermuda.

Ken Spurling of TeleBermuda said the company was opposed to the relaxation of controls on Cable & Wireless until a satisfactory floor price for rates had been established.

He was not aware that the company had submitted such a plan the Government.

"We don't think their status should be changed until they conform to what the Commission has asked them to do,'' he said.

MAN AT THE TOP -- Colin Little