Telecommunications giant AT&T has acquired 60 percent of the shares in an arm of Bermuda's third largest wireless telecom provider, Telecom Bermuda.

Vice president and general manager of AT&T Wireless Caribbean Services, Stephanie Bariault, said that the company had been working on the deal with Telecom Bermuda for just under a year but she declined to reveal the purchase price.

Richard Scott, general manager of Telecom Bermuda, explained that the company was divided into two arms, one a GSM business and one described as a short wave radio business.

AT&T has purchased shares in the GSM portion of the business which formerly belonged to private individuals.

Referring to the rule which usually restricts foreign ownership of Bermuda companies to 40 percent, Mr Scott also confirmed that AT&T had acquired an exemption from the appropriate ministry.

He said that a section 114b licence had been approved last week which entitled AT&T to purchase up to 60 percent.

This was revealed to be the highest percentage that the Telecom ministry would allow and he said "This also happened to be in line with AT&T's requirements."

Ms Bariault said that during AT&T's survey of the Bermuda market, one of the big strengths in favour of Telecom Bermuda was the GSM capacity that it has recently launched.

Telecom Bermuda were the first operator in Bermuda to launch a GSM service in Bermuda.

Their customers can already use their Telecom Bermuda account in 130 other countries, and the link up with AT&T Wireless will now bring on board enhanced voice mail capabilities.

AT&T Wireless also expects to be able to upgrade the network and start introducing so-called "next generation" services to Telecom Bermuda customers in 2003.

This service will among other things allow Bermuda users to send e-mails, browse the Internet and download photographs on their cell phones.