existing technology by recommending Government kill plans for several new callback and voice resale-type phone services.

Deputy chairman of the Commission the Hon. Charles Collis made the comment yesterday at a news conference to discuss the Commissioners' recommendation released this week.

Fending off charges they were denying Bermudians cheaper phone bills, he said applicants' claims that they could offer savings as high as 60 percent were "nonsense''.

And a 30 percent savings would only be realised on outgoing calls, he said.

"There would be no such saving on incoming calls,'' he said.

Furthermore, Mr. Collis said the Commission's recommendations, if accepted by the Minister, would lead to lower telecom rates.

Mr. Collis pointed to the US civil aviation industry as an example of what could happen here if the Commission opened up the industry to unlimited competition.

A "total abolition of controls'' by the US Government had led to the death of many American airlines and considerable weakening of the survivors.

The Commission's six members did not want the same kind of "economic free for all'' to take place in Bermuda, he said.

That was why, for example, Government was holding out against opening up the airport to charter flights. Such a move would destroy the existing infrastructure.

Mr. Collis said the Commission had fully recognised the need for competition within the industry in its decisions.

By opening up competition in the industry on a limited basis, he said, it "had gone a long way considering there was no competition in this area whatsoever''.

He pointed out the industry in Bermuda was now more open that Canada's, which still had a single telecommunications provider. And in the UK, there were only two telecom service providers.

Mr. Collis said there was "no dissenting voice'' in the Commission concerning the recommendations. And he said they were "very much a result'' of the input of the late MP the Hon. John Stubbs, who was the Commission's chairman.

Mr. Collis said he expected Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons to make his decision on the recommendations within two weeks.

There was no provision for any rejected applicants to appeal the Minister's decision, he said.

Two businessmen whose proposed overseas calling services were opposed by the Commission have claimed it was denying Bermudians phone bill savings as high as 30-60 percent.

Mr. John Casling and Mr. Michael Leverock were among five entrepreneurs whose bids to offer callback and voice resale services were not supported by the Commission because it felt they were "cream-skimming'' by using the expensive technology of other companies to offer lower rates.

They were providing no infrastructure to support Bermuda, Mr. Collis said. Mr.

Collis said the Commission decided not to support granting a licence to TeleBermuda because it had only proposed to put in its own cable in the third stage of its development.

He added C&W did have redundant cable facilities available for use in the event one went out of service.

Callback and voice resale services would likely force Cable and Wireless, which has a monopoly on overseas calls, to lower its rates, and Telco, which has a monopoly on the domestic market, to offer cheaper rates.

Telco had applied to extend its services to compete with C&W.

The Commission said it would only support the company's bid if C&W was allowed to compete with Telco in the domestic market.