Bermuda is winning the war with the Isle of Man over a lucrative satellite slot, the Minister of Telecommunications and E-commerce said last night.

Michael Scott confirmed that, after months of delicate negotiations, the UK Office of Communication (Ofcom) has filed in favour of Bermuda.

In yesterday the Isle of Man claimed victory in the war, however, Government spokeswoman Nea Talbot said ?they were trying to bait us? into a verbal shooting-match which they were not going to enter into.

While Bermuda has not claimed to have won the war yet, Ms. Talbot said ?legally, we are in good standing?.

?Work still needs to be done,? she said. ?But this is a very important step.?

Mr. Scott said the background behind the satellite war was who claimed it first.

He said the United Nations assigned three satellite slots to Bermuda in 1983.

?This was done to ensure that Bermuda along with other countries in the North, Central and South American regions each had access to its own orbital slot for broadcast TV service,? he said.

But in June of 2002, the Isle of Man filed with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for an unplanned slot a mere three degrees away from Bermuda?s planned slot.

They had the express intention of providing satellite TV service to Bermuda , as well as the United States and the UK Overseas Territories in the region.

However, he said Government did not know the Isle of Man had tried to take over our slot, because it was never told by the ?now defunct? technical authority the Radiocommunications Agency (RA).

He said Government was only made aware of the Isle of Man?s intentions over a year later in late 2003 through satellite industry sources. In August, 2004, Government applied to modify the planned Bermuda slot in August 2004 with Ofcom.

Ofcom became the new independent technical authority in the UK from December 2003.

?As a result, the Isle of Man objected to Bermuda?s proposal to modify our slot,?he said.

As far as Mr. Scott is concerned, the Isle of Man filed for an unplanned slot, without notifying the Bermuda Government of the potential for their proposal to cause interference to our slot.

Over and above this, the Isle of Man did not notify Government of their intention to provide service to Bermuda, he said.

?Needless to say, the dispute with the Isle of Man had become a major obstacle in seeking to extend our footprint to cover the US,? Mr. Scott said. ?However, with this latest development of Ofcom filing in our favour, Bermuda has accomplished what we have set out to do.

?I must emphasise the fact that this filing is a very significant result, and should not be overshadowed by the negative claims and comments being espoused by the Isle of Man.?

He said Bermuda is now positioned with the backing of the Ofcom filing to move one step closer to winning the satellite war.

?The detailed information on our next steps will be shared with my Cabinet Colleagues and then I will be updating the public in due course,? he said. ?However, I can say that based on this result, we will continue in our discussions with the UK Government, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Ofcom and yes, the Isle of Man, to further Bermuda?s cause.?

He said the public should be aware that Bermuda?s slot is directly over the centre of the United States.

The slot is worth up to $850 million a year, however, the high maintenance costs should result in typical annual profits of closer to $5 million.

In yesterday the Isle of Man said its ?50,000 fighting fund was going to be handed back to its parliament after an Ofcom report on the matter favoured the Isle of Man?s priority filing status.

?Bermuda has seen how much success the Isle of Man and Gibraltar were having and was looking to jump on the bandwagon,? director of the Isle of Man?s Communication Commission, Anthony Hewitt said on Monday.