Talk of Bermuda becoming a telecommunications hub will become a reality when 360networks, the parent company of TeleBermuda International, begins laying a cable between Bermuda and Fortaleza, Brazil tomorrow morning.

And at a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday, TBI general manager James Fitzgerald said Bermuda would become the world's best-connected e-commerce centre with the new link.

"The completion of this cable project will provide tremendous opportunity for Bermuda,'' Mr. Fitzgerald said.

"The increased bandwidth and capacity that is being developed will most certainly position Bermuda as the most connected e-commerce enabled jurisdiction in the world.

The benefits of new technology applications and reduced costs can also be expected as a result of the new cable network becoming a reality.'' But he stressed that the capacity of the new cable was not just for Bermuda's use.

"Even with all of Bermuda's talkative teenage daughters, there is more capacity than the Island needs,'' he said. "There is a lot of traffic in South America. We want all that traffic here.'' The cable is the second step in a plan by 360networks to build 360americas, a 17,400-mile fibre-optic network.

Following the link-up from Bermuda, further cable will be laid between Brazil, Florida and finally New Jersey to join up with the existing TeleBermuda connection by February of next year.

The initiative was inherited from recently-acquired GlobeNet Communications Group, who had called it Atlantica-1.

A southern ring from Fortaleza to Rio de Janeiro will also be constructed and is expected to be fully operational by the second half of next year.

The cable to Brazil will be laid by the Danish ship CS Heimdal , which arrived in Bermuda from Calais, France and has been berthed along Front Street.

The ship is operated by the French telecommunications giant Alcatel, to whom 360networks has contracted the project.

The Heimdal is due to connect the cable to an existing line one nautical mile southeast of St. David's Head tomorrow morning.

With the ship travelling at five knots, the 5,300-kilometre voyage to Brazil is expected to take some four weeks.

The cable between Bermuda and Brazil, despite being only 17 millimetres thick, will have a capacity of 1.28 terabits per second -- enough bandwidth to carry 15 million simultaneous voice and data calls.

Most of the cable's substance consists of protective outer shells -- only four fibres totaling 0.1 millimetres in diameter will convey signals.

Both of the ship's circular tanks are filled to the brim with cable in anticipation of the lengthy voyage.

The line will be laid as deep as 6,140 metres below the surface between here and Brazil.

360networks, like Bermuda-based Global Crossing, has since 1988 been developing network services to offer telecommunications companies.

By the end of 2001, the company's network is expected to measure 91,000 kilometres and link 90 major cities with terrestrial routes in North America and Europe and undersea cables linking North America with South America and Europe.

The company acquired GlobeNet, TeleBermuda's former parent company, last month.

Mr. Fitzgerald said he expected the cost of communication to come down with the ownership of 360networks and the new connection, due to be operational by the end of September.

"We've got lots of capacity,'' he said.

"This will allow more companies to come here. With more people using (the Internet, telephone), prices tend to be driven down.'' And he said predictions that long-distance rates from Bermuda to America would be as low as 30 cents by the end of 2001 were too conservative, expecting prices to come down well before then.

He also said that business Internet access now permitted by the Ministry of Telecommuncations would come "sooner rather than later''.

Telecommunications and E-Commerce Minister Renee Webb was on hand for yesterday's ceremony before taking an official tour of the cable ship.

"Government and the people of Bermuda embrace the vision of being an e-commerce hub,'' she said.

"It is great to finally see it come to fruition.''