Ltd. and GeoReach Communications said Friday it had cleared UK telecommunications carrier rules.

The company received an international facilities licence under the UK Telecommunications Act from the UK government.

A month ago, TeleBermuda was given positive indication on its application.

The licence paves the way for TBI/GeoReach Group to expand its international fibre optic and satellite telecommunications network from the US and Canada, via Bermuda, to the UK and the rest of Europe, the company said.

GeoReach, Canadian arm of the group, has applied for a similar facilities-based licence in Canada pending termination of Teleglobe's monopoly.

Bermuda Stock Exchange-listed TeleBermuda International expects to complete the first leg of its trans Atlantic cable (BUS-1) from New Jersey to Bermuda by August of 1997.

The system is to be operational by October.

"The phenomenal increase of trans Atlantic communications traffic, partially due to growth of Internet and increased competition on both sides of the Atlantic, will create major opportunities for traffic hubbing through an `offshore tax-free' jurisdiction like Bermuda,'' TeleBermuda chairman and CEO Mike Kedar, also CEO of GeoReach, said.

Last month, TeleBermuda International announced the US State Department had authorised the Federal Communications Commission to give TeleBermuda's US affiliate, TeleBermuda International LLC, a US cable landing licence. Mr.

Kedar called this the company's last major hurdle.

TeleBermuda UK licence application was in response to a move to end the BT-Mercury international telecommunications duopoly.

TeleBermuda UK plans to offer service in the UK in the first half of 1997 by acquiring capacity on existing submarine telecommunications cables.