A new international telecommunication company building a network linking the South Pacific with North America has made Bermuda its international headquarters.

Southern Cross Cable Network will join Global Crossing Ltd. and Project Oxygen Ltd., two other international telecommunication firms that have set up headquarters on the Island.

Southern Cross Cables Holdings Ltd. was incorporated in Bermuda in April last year. Southern Cross Cable Network is now advertising in The Royal Gazette for six employees to staff its headquarters in Bermuda.

Telecom New Zealand, Optus Communications, and WorldCom are behind the project. The companies have awarded the $800 million supply contract to Alcatel and Fujitsu.

Southern Cross plans on building a submarine fibre optic cable network linking the Southern Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and the US. Construction is scheduled to begin this year.

The 29,000 kilometre (18,125 miles) cable will cost about $1 billion and will link Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the mainland US, and Fiji, according to an October article on CNNfn Internet site.

About 30 international and Australian-based companies, including phone carriers and Internet service providers, have signed up for capacity on the network. The first phase linking Australia and New Zealand is due to be completed by the end of 1999. The second phase via Fiji is due for completion next year.

Southern Cross is on the lookout for a global tax and compliance manager, a technical executive, an office administrator and a financial controller.

The hiring is being coordinated by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Project Oxygen Ltd., which is building a $10 billion global fibre-optic network, set its headquarters up in Bermuda last month at the corner of Parliament and Front Streets.

Global Crossing's headquarters is located at Wessex House on Reid Street. The Global Crossing is currently laying a worldwide network of digital fibre- optic cable systems. It's Atlantic Crossing went into commercial service last May. The other segments of the network are Pacific Crossing connecting the US and Japan, the Mid-Atlantic Crossing connecting the eastern US, and the Caribbean, and the Pan-American Crossing, connecting the western US, Central America, and the Caribbean.