The Bermuda Telephone Company is behind the mystery `MAX' ad campaign in the local media, The Royal Gazette has learned.

BTC Mobility is to announce a revamped cellular service tomorrow to combat competition from upstart CellularOne.

In recent weeks full-page newspaper ads and a radio campaign for MAX have appeared, with free MAX merchandise such as pens and desk fans, distributed on the streets in Hamilton yesterday.

Local phone service provider BTC lost its cellphone monopoly when CellularOne arrived on the scene in June with enhanced services, automated roaming (the facility to use a cellphone overseas) and different calling plans.

But BTC's new digital cellular service, running on the `TDMA' standard, will challenge CellularOne with such value-added features as caller ID and short messaging. New cost-effective calling plans will also be introduced. But CellularOne CEO Kurt Eve said yesterday business was going well. He claimed about two thirds of his customers had switched over from BTC, but he declined to say how many customers in total he had. He said his customers found CellularOne's pricing attractive and the quality of the analogue network better.

"We have a brand new Lucent network and the coverage is very good,'' Mr. Eve said. "We also have a world-class customer service team.'' He said the response from customers was far in excess of what had been expected. But BTC Mobility Product Manager Firoz Kassam contended losses to BTC had been "negligible'' and some customers just "wanted to support the underdog''. A few even changed to CellularOne, but later switched back to BTC, he claimed.

BTC Mobility currently has some 14,700 customers subscribed to its service, with 300 to 500 more signing up each month, according to Mr. Kassam.

"We are still activating the same number of subscribers each month,'' he said.

And BTC expects more customers to sign on with the new service.

"We are very excited about this and are very optimistic,'' Mr. Kassam said.

"We have what the customers have been asking for. Our dealer network is also very pleased.'' He confirmed that the network was upgraded one month ago and testing had finished.

BTC also has plans to introduce automated roaming services to North America in the coming months, although travellers can currently hook up their phones manually with a credit card while abroad.

CellularOne offers five calling plans, ranging from $20 per month with no free minutes to $150 per month with 800 free minutes. The company expects to provide digital service within six to nine months.

But customers should note that CellularOne will use a different digital standard from BTC and digital phones can't change between networks.