The head of the Island's second long distance phone carrier has denied telecom companies are discriminating against West Indian customers with higher rates.

Responding to a letter sent to the Editor of The Royal Gazette , which claimed phone calls to the Caribbean are higher than to North America including Hawaii and Alaska, TeleBermuda International CEO James Fitzgerald said that more than 90 percent of the calls to and from Bermuda go to either the US, Canada or the UK, and in telecommunications `volume speaks volumes'.

The letter writer, who said he was,"feeling first discriminated against, because I'm West Indian, then ripped off'', challenged TBI to explain why it costs 59 cents to call the Caribbean but 29 cents to call North America and the United Kingdom.

Raising the issue of race, the writer, under the pen name `Ripped Off', pointed out thatthe cost of a call to Australia and New Zealand is 59 cents a minute -- but suggested there are not as many people from there as from the Caribbean.

The letter appears in today's Letters to the Editor, on Page 4.

Ripped off complained: "I saw the TBI ad. It charges 29 cents to the rich English-speaking white countries, excluding Australia and New Zealand.

"Poor English-speaking black West Indians must pay 59 cents,'' Ripped Off continued.

Also bothering the writer is the fact that calls to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are cheaper than calls to islands that are next door to them.

Ripped Off also suggests that local carriers form companies to do the same thing as the now illegal callback companies did.

Suggesting that callback services buy telephone capacity from long distance providers, leading to "excess profits'', Ripped Off suggests they use their own middle level companies but still charge the same rates.

"Lets be honest,'' the letter continues. "C&W and TBI can always match the callback companies with their own direct systems and make bigger profits without the middle man. Madam Minister should not help them rip us off.'' Ripped Off concludes: "There is something wrong (Telecommunications Minister) Ms (Renee) Webb.

Mr. Fitzgerald said: "As far as costs to the Caribbean go, I would say the rate for the calls is based on volume.

"Seventy percent of calls to Bermuda and 70 from Bermuda are for the US,'' he continued. "We send and receive approximately 12 percent of our calls from the UK and about nine percent is traffic to and from Canada.

"That's about 90 percent right there,'' he explained. "Volume speaks volumes when you make arrangements with other carriers, like we do at our terminus at Tuckerton, New Jersey.'' Mr. Fitzgerald added: "We don't discriminate when it comes to the region. If we had high volumes going to another destination then we would have it at a rate of 29 cents.

"But volume is how we develop the phone rates. And while I don't speak for Cable and Wireless, I'm sure that's how they come up with their figures.'' Turning to Ripped Off's call for TBI and C&W to start their own intermediary callback companies, Mr. Fitzgerald replied: "To put it simply, in our view, callback services are not for Bermuda. We are in competition with C&W and the rate is now 29 cents per minute when it used to be well over a dollar a minute.

TBI responds to criticism "Both companies pay a licensing fee of six percent of our revenues and we hire mostly Bermudian staff. Callback companies don't do anything for Bermuda.

Callback pays nothing to TBI and C&W. They don't pay licensing fees to Government and they don't employ anyone here.'' C&W was contacted about the general thrust of the letter, although the letter named TBI specifically.

A C&W spokesperson confirmed Mr. Fitzgerald's explanation, saying: "We agree with Mr. Fitzgerald's comments.

"Our company has served Bermuda for more than one hundred years and has invested money, time, and has provided training to Bermudians,'' the spokesperson added.