High standards in customer service and an ever-expanding list of services have been the secret of success for telecommunications company North Rock, founder and general manager Tom Coelho said yesterday.

As guest speaker at the Hamilton Rotarians' weekly luncheon, he said since the company had taken off in 1997, steering North Rock Communications had been like flying a glider; some parts of the journey were bumpy, others were smooth, but it was always exhilarating.

But he said as the company entered its sixth year, it was now moving ahead with its plans to offer local calls to residents and promised that North Rock would be forever looking at ways to make life easier and cheaper for people on the Island.

And he said that would mean staying ahead of the game and offering a better service than the competition.

But Mr. Coelho said the developments had not just happened in recent months.

He said it had been a steady progression in the last six years.

And he said while North Rock had expanded the services and products it offered, it had also played a major role in bringing the price of services down, including international calls to America and the UK.

And on top of that, North Rock recently launched its new 1-800 number, which means customers travelling in North America can still use their account and access North Rock's low rates.

"Telecommunications in Bermuda is highly competitive and the key to North Rock's success has been our desire to provide superior customer service and the fact that we have constantly expanded our platform of products and services to both the residential and business markets," he said.

"So, what's next for North Rock? Bermuda will finally have a choice for their local telephone service.

"We have installed the infrastructure to launch our local telephone service and are presently working with all the other carriers to ensure your calls are seamlessly transferred from one provider to another.

"At North Rock, we also expect to see an increased need for bandwidth and we are positioned to meet that demand with our wireless broadband service."

Mr. Coelho said the company first came about in 1996 when he had the opportunity to partner with two Bermudian entrepreneurs, Erich Hetzel and John Robbins, who wanted to establish an Internet service provider.

The licence application process took about 18 months, and in the December of the following year, the new telecommunications business was officially launched.

"We established innovative services and set a new standard for the level of customer service that Internet customers had available to them," said Mr. Coelho.

"Our help desk was open from 8.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and was also available on Saturday.

"We provided a CD with the necessary software to get the customer up and running. We were the first to introduce 56k dial-up service and web-based email and a depot configuration services, where customers could bring their computers to have the system configured for them to use the Internet.

"We offered flexible payment options and were the first company to enable customers to view their bills online."

The general manager said since September 11, the need for off-site hosting had become a priority for a number of businesses.

But he said North Rock had always provided co-location facilities. He said the company had a secure facility and provided a number of hosting options to businesses, both on and off the Island, from the small business to the large.

And he said a priority for North Rock was to provide diverse connectivity for customers, and said, until recently, North Rock was the only company in Bermuda who could claim such diversity.

He said the network was engineered so that it had two network operation centres, two off-island international carriers and generators and uninterrupted power supplies in both facilities, with connectivity through wireless and fibre technologies and a facility in New York.

He added: "Now, exactly what does that mean to you, the end user?

"It means you can continue to surf and communicate by email without interruption. For instance, a month ago when one of the international carriers lost its overseas link, our Internet customers were able to continue using our service as our second carrier was operational.

"It also means I get to sleep much better at night."

And he said: "Fortunately, we have built a very strong team of professionals and I believe that we have some of the finest Bermudians working at North Road.

"We have accomplished this through technical and customer service training and college scholarships.

"We have a great team who are committed to our customers and who are committed to the success of North Road."