Bermudians can milk high-tech telecommunications "cash cow'' CellularOne through a soon-to-be-announced $2 million offering to investors.

Gulfstream Financial chief Bob Richards revealed the plan to The Royal Gazette yesterday, as well as the company's aim to list on the Bermuda Stock Exchange "some time next year'' opening the way for many more investors.

Bermuda Digital Communications chairman and CEO Kurt Eve -- who brought CellularOne to the market and so forced down prices -- said the idea was to increase Bermudian shareholders in the privately held local company.

And Mr. Eve confirmed that since CellularOne threw their doors open to customers last month it was "significantly ahead of sales projections''.

He said rival BTC's MAX ad campaign which has blitzed Bermuda's airwaves and newspapers for weeks had driven many interested customers into CellularOne's store, particularly in light of long delays at the competition.

"We're doing extremely well. We are significantly ahead of projections. What MAX has done is increase the overall market for cellular phones. It's made more people want phones,'' he said.

"Because of some of the delays a lot of people have brought their phones to us to activate them quickly because they work fine on our network.'' Sophisticated Bermudian investors with $50,000 to inject into the telecommunications start-up are being sought to hook up with what Gulfstream's Mr. Richards described last night as a "high-technology cash cow''.

Mr. Eve said yesterday the offering was always on the books.

"When we signed our $4 million joint venture deal last summer with Atlantic TeleNetwork, we always planned to do this as soon as CellularOne was operational so we could increase our shareholder base in Bermuda,'' he said.

"These additional funds will help us fund operating centres and purchase additional equipment.'' He said CellularOne had certain advantages over rivals including offering "roaming'' in the United States and Canada, allowing users to continue using their phone in other countries without doing anything. It begins on Saturday.

"This is exciting for two reasons. One we've been able to introduce competition to the telecommunications market in Bermuda which is what everyone has been talking about doing for years.

"And this is an extremely attractive investment opportunity for Bermudians.

It's not often the Island gets a start-up, high-technology company with significant opportunities for return on investment. Well here it is.'' He admitted the risks were higher than investing in a vehicle to give wider spread like a mutual fund, but pointed out the possible returns were also wildly higher.

Gulfstream's Mr. Richards said the offering was an "attractive opportunity'' because the cellular market had been poorly served for years on the Island and CellularOne was now "making inroads and improvements''.

"This company competes on quality rather than price so it doesn't have to cut its own throat to get its marketshare,'' he explained.

"All the costs of the company are fixed so after breaking even the profits are very significant because they don't have any ongoing variable costs as volume increases.

"People have already responded positively in a big way and that is a sign of a good investment.'' He said CellularOne intended to list its shares on the BSX some time next year .

"I think it will be a high-technology cash cow once it gets fully in gear and investors should expect significant dividends in perhaps two years.

"Of course no one can say this definitively but in a few years CellularOne should be in a position of giving investors cash returns on their investments by way of dividends.'' Kurt Eve