Ahmed ElAmin . Their aim is to link 78 points around the world with 105,000 miles of fibre-optic cable.

Project Oxygen Ltd., which is building a $10 billion global fibre-optic network that aims to dramatically lower global telecommunications costs, has moved its headquarters to Bermuda.

Company employees are currently setting up the office at the corner of Parliament and Front, where Freisenbruch-Meyer Insurance Services were previously located. The office will also be the headquarters for Ozone Ltd., the company responsible for maintaining the network once it's built.

James Muzzy, Project Oxygen's director of finance and administration, said top executives would be arriving on the Island later this month. Project Oxygen chairman and chief executive officer Neil Tagare, chief financial officer Michael Choniski, head of marketing Bradley Holmes, vice president of operations Joe Brown, and Project Ozone president Larry Cahill, among others, will be located at the office.

About 15 people are initially slated to staff the company's headquarters with more added as the company expands operations, Mr. Muzzy said.

They have embarked on a mission to build a network linking 78 points around the world with 105,000 miles of fibre optic cable. Mr. Tagare has envisioned revolutionising the way bandwidth is bought and sold internationally.

Most international lines are currently owned by big telecommunications companies that lease capacity from one point to another. A telephone service provider sending telecommunications traffic from the US to Europe must contact one of the international companies and lease bandwidth on the route, often for up to 25 years.

Unlike the rest Project Oxygen aims to charge telephone companies one price for access to the network, much like Internet rates. Companies will lease a certain amount of capacity and send traffic anywhere on the Oxygen network at any time.

The company claims it will offer bandwidth 67 times cheaper than satellite circuits and 100 times cheaper than existing submarine cables. Mr. Tagare has called the Project Oxygen network the "super Internet'' of the future.

"The Internet has caused obsolescence in the traditional way of forecasting and pricing international traffic,'' he stated on the company's Web site (www.oxygen.org). "Carriers that adapt to the new business model will benefit significantly.'' The company is currently raising the $3 billion to build the first phase of the network, which will connect the US, Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean and loop back to the US. The Atlantic ring is scheduled to begin operation next year.

Financing, policy and administration will be done from the Bermuda headquarters. The network will be privately owned by backers, which include some of the largest companies in the US, Europe and Japan.

This week the company announced the appointment of Lehman Brothers Inc. as financial advisor for the development of the network. Lehman replaces J.P.

Morgan Securities Inc.

Project Ozone will maintain the cable and operate 23 cable ships. Project Oxygen customers will pay an annual fixed operation and maintenance fee equal to six percent of their capacity purchase cost. Mr. Tagare, 37, is the entrepreneur who authored the feasibility study that led to the creation of the Flag undersea cable from Europe through to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Flag was originally set up as a Bermuda company and at 15,000 miles was the longest submarine cable in the world and the first to be privately financed, according to the company.

He later became an executive vice president for Nynex Network Systems (Bermuda) Ltd., the marketing agent for Flag, before forming CTR Group in New Jersey. CTR created the business and technical plan for Project Oxygen, and will provide engineering and related services for the network.

Mr. Muzzy has been brought in to set up the Bermuda office. He also has a banking background and is experienced in launching initial public offerings for companies looking to go public.

After a career in merchant and international banking he formed his own private consulting practice in the 1980s. Over the past ten years he has consulted for eight companies, with six of them going public.

He said Project Oxygen would depend on project financing for the start up phase of the network before public financing is considered.

GLOBAL VIEW -- Here is a map of Phase 1-A1 of Project Oxygen's scheme. It will connect the US, Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean and loop back to the US. The Atlantic ring is scheduled to begin operation next year.