360netoworks, the debt-ridden Canadian fibre optic telecommunications network builder, will not sell or disband TeleBermuda International yet - despite declaring it is to liquidate its non-North American assets.

360networks bought up GlobeNet, which owned TBI, for $1 billion in March 2000, but since the crash of telecoms stock and a fall in demand for telecommunications, 360network has been buckling under mounting debt.

On Friday 360networks told a Vancouver court it has abandoned dreams of running a global system and is trying to survive as a North America-only operation. And there were fears that the Bermuda operation would be part of the sell-off.

But yesterday company spokeswoman Michelle Gagne said: "To my knowledge we have no plans to sell TeleBermuda."

TeleBermuda referred inquiries made by The Royal Gazette to 360networks in Canada.

TeleBermuda was set up in 1997 as a long-distance provider and is based in St. David's.

360, which has sought protection from creditors in Canada and the United States, said its restructuring plan will include liquidating its non-North American assets, such as its its recently completed transatlantic undersea cable, which runs through Bermuda. The company's original plan of ringing the world with cable has been dashed by a massive debt and slowing demand for telecommunications services.

The company, which is headed by Microsoft's former chief financial officer Greg Maffei, has begun talks with potential buyers for the assets.

"There have been negotiations but there are no definite agreements," Mrs. Gagne told reporters on Friday outside the British Columbia Supreme Court. 360 had gone to court to ask to renew its protection order until the end of the year.

The hearing foreshadowed just how complicated it may be to untangle the finances of one of the first major fibre optic network firms to collapse.

The courtroom was packed not just with attorneys for 360networks's creditors, but with its customers and competitors who have found their own operations physically and financially linked to it through fibre-swap contracts.

"There is a whole web of connection contracts that support the web," 360networks attorney Michael Fitch told the court, acknowledging uncertainty about the firm's future had caused "a high degree of anxiety" for companies that have contracts to use its system.

360networks went public in April 2000 after being spun off by private Canadian construction firm Ledcor Industries but sought creditor protection in June. It said then the move would allow it to reorganise and concentrate on its core business.

Mrs. Gagne said the company still believed it could reorganise as a viable and more tightly focused company, although she could offer no assurances that shareholders would be able to salvage any of their investments once the reorganisation was completed. The company has $1.2 billion in secured debt, $1.4 billion in unsecured bond debt and $250 million in unsecured North America trade debt.

360networks told the court Friday it has prepared a budget that will allow it to operate for the rest of the year. The budget includes $55 million for capital costs to complete ongoing construction in North America.

The budget has been endorsed by the company's senior secured debt holders, but needs the court's approval.

Nasdaq suspended trading in 360networks just before it sought court protection and trading in the United States has not resumed pending discussions between the company and the exchange. 360networks' request for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States is being heard by a federal bankruptcy court in New York City. A hearing in that case is not scheduled until next month.