TeleBermuda International Ltd. will begin laying its $50 million fibre optic telecommunications cable between the Island and New Jersey as early as this Saturday, the company said yesterday.

The company, which competes with Cable & Wireless for long-distance telephone and telecommunications service, has hired AT&T Submarine Systems International to lay the cable.

The cable will be laid underwater from Annie's Bay in St. David's across 1,350 kilometres of ocean floor to Tuckerton, New Jersey. TeleBermuda has been operating since May 19, attracting customers with a 15 percent discount over Cable & Wireless long distance rates. Currently the company is providing service via satellite.

In a press release TeleBermuda said a cable vessel will begin laying the first leg of the cable from the company's telecommunications centre at St. David's to about 2.5 km out to sea.

"The first leg of cable initially will be floated with buoys to its full length,'' the Press release stated. "Divers will then begin lowering the cable gently to the ocean floor in the precise path approved by Government, and which follows an abandoned sonar cable.'' In July the C.S. Global Mariner , a large cable ship, will begin laying the rest of the network to New Jersey.

The company expects the cable to be operational by October.

"The cable will have more than ten times the capacity of all of the Island's existing cable systems combined, officially ending the era of overseas callers getting busy signals from overloaded circuits,'' the press release stated.

"At the same time, TeleBermuda's state-of-the-art technologies will usher in a new era of overseas telecommunications that are virtually free of static, echo or interruptions. the capacity of the system will also allow Bermuda to become an international hub of global telecommunications.'' The company's long-range plans include laying another telecommunications cable from Bermuda to Britain.

TeleBermuda director Kenneth Spurling said the number of customers who had switched to the company from Cable & Wireless was ahead of business projections.