markets in its latest advertising blitz.

Portuguese print and radio ads plus Filipino and Australian radio ads have been in full force since the January 1.

These ads push Cable & Wireless' new weekend rate of up to 99 cents per minute for all international calls and the 20/20 programme the company offers which, for $20 a month, slashes rates by 20 percent effectively taking weekend rates down to a maximum of 79 cents per minute.

Cable & Wireless Marketing Communications Manager John Instone said the markets were targeted because of their large populations on Island -- particularly in the case of the Portuguese -- and the large number of calls which were made to the respective countries.

But the ads also help illustrate the "universality of the companies' rate reduction'', he said.

"They highlight the fact that a call on the weekend to anywhere in the world is 99 cents or less,'' .

And it is nothing new, he pointed out, as the company had done similar ads in the past.

He noted that there were not many ads out there which targeted the Island's large Portuguese population, or that of other nationalities, and suggested marketers go after them.

"There are a lot of people on the Island for whom English is not their first language. If you have something to offer them, it would not hurt to cater to those groups.'' But is it working? "It's too early to tell if it is working,'' said Mr. Instone.

But he added: "There appear to be a lot of people switching over to us from our competitor. Towards the end of January the customer service centre reported that an average of two people per day were switching over to us.

"Largely, these were people who regularly called other world destinations.''