Installations for a new telecommunications provider will start before Christmas. An announcement on the commencement of work for the east end project is expected within the next six weeks.

TeleBermuda International (TBI), the company that seeks to challenge the Cable & Wireless international telecommunications monopoly, begins trading on the Bermuda Stock Exchange next week Friday and are hoping for a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange within the next two months.

Work will soon begin with the erecting of a 9.3 metre satellite dish at the main operating site planned for Corregidor Road, St. David's.

But chairman and CEO, Michael Kedar, said that it would automatically be better than what their competitor has to offer.

He said, "It's the latest technology in digital satellite. It's not as big as Cable & Wireless' 30 metre dish in Devonshire. We don't need that capacity.

And our's is digital as opposed to theirs which is analog.

"That's why there is some echo and delays when they use the satellite to carry long distance calls. We'll have none of that.

"Our satellite dish is on the dock, ready to be shipped to Bermuda. Some of the power equipment is already in Bermuda. The switch is on its way, and we have the team to assemble the system all ready to go.'' The company's network infrastructure includes the first phase of the trans-Atlantic submarine fibre optic cable system, connecting St. David's Island with Tuckerton, New Jersey.

Also planned for installation is a Northern Telecom 250/300 international gateway switch and the Standard `B' Intelsat-approved satellite earth station.

Mr. Kedar said, "This will allow TBI to start operating on a level playing field with C&W, competing for the approximately $100-million annual Bermudian market, and set the stage for Bermuda to become a major transit hub.'' The company still plans to commence commercial service in Bermuda late next year, providing international voice and data services to the burgeoning Bermuda market.

Mr. Kedar said, "With the growing demand for trans-Atlantic telecommunications traffic, particularly the Internet, multi-media and facsimile services, which are growing at over 25 percent annually, we see Bermuda as a major port for offshore electronic transactions in an advantageous tax environment which should provide significant incremental growth for Bermuda's telecommunications industry.'' The first phase of BUS-1, the fibre cable system, is scheduled to be operational by October 1997 with an initial capacity of 2.5 Gigabit per second (capable of handling 120,000 simultaneous voice conversations) and is upgradeable to 40 gigabit per second, which would create the highest capacity of calls across the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, TBI said this week that it never intended to raise any more than three or four million dollars in the Bermuda IPO, and in fact, has attracted less than $2.5 million in local funds, but together with non-Bermudian investors, the figure has swelled to near $4 million.

Jeffrey Conyers, president of IPO agent First Bermuda Securities, said, "Bermudians are basically being conservative at this point in time and TeleBermuda is an ambitious project and perhaps down the road, when they see it growing as a company, producing revenue and providing service we are confident that they will start to get more involved in it.

"At the moment though, the company is in good shape with $18 million in the bank. It is a terrific day for Bermuda, the first time we have done a Bermuda/non-Bermuda equity financing of this size. And we are going to get joint stock exchange listings in Bermuda and in Toronto.'' The $18 million was raised here in Bermuda and through private placement overseas, but fell short of the $30 million offer.

With shares first taken up privately by Bermudian investors, the total amount of local ownership is currently at 27 percent, above the required 20 percent.

Private placement is continuing outside the Island.

TBI's planned facilities-based international telecommunications carrier will precede efforts to create a major transit hub in Bermuda to handle the growing international traffic in the Atlantic Ocean.

The now closed IPO, jointly managed by CIBC Wood Gundy Securities Inc. of Toronto and local firm, First Bermuda Securities Ltd., saw a total of 2.118 million common shares issued at $8.50 each to raise the total outstanding capitalisation to 3.48 million shares.