services from Bermuda is faced with a $20 million deadline that is now less than a month away.

TeleBermuda International applied at the beginning of the year for a public telecommunications licence that would see it invest $80 million over the next five years in becoming a competitor to Cable & Wireless as an international carrier for Bermuda, but would also see them develop an international telecommunications centre, using land being returned to the Island by the departing foreign military.

The company has an agreement to install a spur to a new transatlantic fibreoptic cable, but says it must have a licence by June 3 or it will face massively higher costs.

The company, which claims it could generate $35 million in its fifth year of operation, plans to develop an international switching hub on the Island that could be supported by an international toll switch and a new and competing undersea fibreoptic cable.

To do that, Bermuda would have to link up a spur to Teleglobe consortium's new CANTAT-3 undersea cable, at present being laid, that links Canada, the US, Iceland, the UK, Denmark and Germany.

Unlike the current PTAT cable used by Cable & Wireless, according to TeleBermuda, the high speed link through CANTAT-3 would mean "direct connectivity'', and more security for transmissions to the major trading centres. That would be attractive to a large list of international companies, concerned about security and wiretapping by governments, including the US.

TeleBermuda has negotiated the spur and a mid-sea junction box at a deposit cost of $4 million. But TeleBermuda would have to pay that deposit and tell the owners of CANTAT-3 by early June that they have been licenced. They would then have to commit to the $45-50-million outlay needed to build the Bermuda spur, to lay the underwater fibreoptic cable, to an international junction that would bring Bermuda on line.

If they miss that June 3 deadline, the cost, it is anticipated, would increase by $20 million.

TeleBermuda's president and CEO, Canadian Mr. Michael Kedar, argued before Telecommunications Commissioners that the proposals would have strategic importance to the Country, as the long-term plan would involve creating an entirely new industry for Bermuda, making the island a freeport for information-based companies that seek to safeguard their databases from prying eyes that could include the US Government.

Mr. Kedar participated in the initial development of cellullar telephones in Canada and was instrumental in opening the Canadian market for the resale of telecommunications services. He is also a principal in one of the four licencees for public cordless telephone services in Canada.

He promises to bring the cost of telecommunications links to the UK and North America down by 30 to 50 percent.

He claims to be able to help the Bermuda Government further diversify the Bermudian economy by: establishing in Bermuda a first class international telecommunications gateway; Increasing the attractiveness for international companies to locate in Bermuda; Strengthening the service sector, and creating new telecommunications-based business in areas such as software development, computer-assisted stock trading, computer-based information services and database management services; providing significant savings and an improved quality of telecommunications services to North America and Britain; creating higher quality jobs for Bermudians; and creating new sources of foreign currency investment and earnings.

According to its submission, "The presence of a second international carrier in Bermuda will attract US, UK, Canadian and other international businesses which otherwise would not have located in Bermuda under the present monopoly telecommunications regime.

The international hub will also provide interconnection to "second tier'' carriers in countries where entrants compete with traditional monopolies such as Cable and Wireless, British Telecom, France Telecom, Deutsche Bundepost Telekom and others.

"TeleBermuda's plan will require an investment of $80 million in a three-phased plan over five years. This plan will create many high quality jobs. It also will create an appropriate infrastructure to support and facilitate the growth of Bermuda's information/telecommunications-based service industry, thereby creating potential for hundreds of additional new jobs and the development of a third major industry in Bermuda following tourism and insurance/financial services.'' The group also says the Canadian partners believe that it is a significant opportunity for Bermuda. TeleBermuda stated that it would commence service to Bermuda within six months of licence approval.

TeleBermuda is not proposing to share the existing market with Cable and Wireless. They say that they would create an environment that will facilitate the sharing of a substantially larger market that would benefit all Bermudians, The Bermuda Telephone Company, Cable and Wireless and TeleBermuda.

They believe their plan would offset the shortfall to the economy created by the Base closures and that the telecommunications and information sector would quickly become the island's third largest industry.

The company would be 60 percent Bermuda-owned. Lawyer Mrs. Lynda Milligan-Whyte, businessman Mr. Ward Young and securities dealer Mr. Jeffrey Conyers are some of the high profile Bermudian directors.

Additional equity in the company would be offered first to Bermudians. A $15-million capital investment will be required for the acquisition of the international switch and construction of the Hamilton metropolitan fibre optic network in phase one. Phase two includes the construction of an undersea fibreoptic cable spur to connect Bermuda to CANTAT-3 at a cost of up to $50 million. The third phase requires $15 million more to enhance the switching hardware and software of the international hub.

Financing of the $80 million will be through a combination of $18.5 million in new equity, $33 million in long term debt and the balance in retained earnings.

DEADLINE LOOMS -- Mr. Ward Young, left, and Mr. steve Kedar.