TeleBermuda International Ltd. is proceeding with plans for the laying of a second international telephone cable -- even though it has not yet been granted a licence to operate.

A cable ship managed by TeleBermuda's international partner, TeleGlobe, was in Bermuda waters yesterday conducting a 24-hour survey to determine the path that a new underwater telecommunications cable could take.

TeleBermuda is proposing that a special Bermuda junction be constructed and a new cable laid to hook up with CANUS, the cable being laid between Canada and the US. That cable connects with the CANTAT-3 cable that provides a link to Europe.

The company -- which is awaiting a decision from Government on its telecommunications licence -- would use the cable to give Bermuda consumers a second fibre-optic telephone cable. The Island is now served by Cable & Wireless' PTAT cable.

Meyer's is the agent for the managers and the operators of the Ottawa-registered John Cabot and a spokesman said that the near 80 metre cable ship is a former Canadian Coast Guard vessel.

The managers and operators of the AT&T-owned vessel are listed as Teleglobe Marine of Montreal. The vessel, with a crew complement of 36, was conducting its operations off South Shore before sailing back to Canada, and was not expected to put into port here.

Teleglobe is already spending $5 million on the local project, optimistic that the Telecommunications Minister, the Hon. Grant Gibbons, will agree to the plan that would provide a new, state of the art, high capacity submarine cable for Bermuda.

If the company were to wait for a decision before doing the preparatory work, not only would there have been additional costs, but Bermuda's link could be delayed some eighteen months.

President Mr. Mike Kedar, said yesterday from his Toronto office that the new cable would provide Bermuda with "high speed on-ramps to the global information highway''.

The company said it is prepared over five years to invest $80 million on undersea cable facilities and a new international switching centre for the Island, and that its presence would bring the Island's telecommunications costs down by between 30 and 50 percent.

The company, with a Bermudian board of directors that include BDC Ltd.

president, Mr. Ward Young and Government Sen. Lynda Milligan-White is promising lower costs for international telecommunications.

Mr. Kedar said: "Bermuda is presently at a continuous risk by having only one cable connecting it to the US and Europe. TeleBermuda's cable will provide five times the capacity of the Cable & Wireless cable and offer full back-up in the case of cable interruption.

"TeleBermuda will bring to Bermudians a broad range of enhanced voice and data telecommunications services. Innovations such as call detail account recording, a powerful telecommunications management tool for customers, which allows customers to assign project or account codes so that the billing they receive is broken down by project or client, as well as by call, will see early introduction in Bermuda following completion of TeleBermuda's network construction.''