banks to pay for its undersea fibre-optic cable system.

The company has a US$30 million loan from Dresdner Bank Canada, and an additional US$13 million from a division of the Toronto-Dominion Bank, and from Tyco Submarine Systems Ltd.

Tyco, formerly AT&T Submarine Systems, has just completed laying the company's undersea cable from Bermuda to the New Jersey shore.

TeleBermuda director Ken Spurling said the ten-mile inland connection from the undersea cable to Tuckerton, New Jersey, a major hub for telecommunications connections, will be completed in October.

"The backing by two large international financial institutions shows that TeleBermuda is here to stay,'' Mr. Spurling said.

The loans are due in five years. As part of the financing, TeleBermuda has issued warrants to Toronto-Dominion Bank and Tyco as subordinated lenders.

The warrants give the two companies the right to acquire up to 1,529,412 common shares in TeleBermuda at prices ranging from $8.50 to $9.25 a share.

TeleBermuda competes with Cable & Wireless in Bermuda's long distance telecommunications market. The company began its service in May this year using a satellite system.

The company had originally projected in its initial share offering that it would pick up 1.5 percent of the long distance market this year.

Mr. Spurling said TeleBermuda has so far picked up "well in excess'' of three percent of the market, estimated to be worth about $100 million a year.

The company also wants to extend its cable network to Europe and Latin America.