Europe were temporarily cut off yesterday after a major fault in or off England disrupted transmission on the transatlantic fibre optic network.

Cable and Wireless spokesman Mr. John Instone, whose company oversees those services in Bermuda, told The Royal Gazette last night that the glitch in the system has not been fully repaired.

"The problem is not solved as far I'm concerned,'' he said. "Some transmissions have been rerouted to pre-planned restoration routes and via satellite. We just hope that Bermuda won't be too much inconvenienced.'' Mr. Instone said he could not say how long service might be affected by the fault, which was found near the cable terminal in the western English town of Bream.

Bream is where the transatlantic fibreoptic cable comes ashore in Europe. The cable comes ashore in North America at New Jersey.

Cable and Wireless said the fault was first detected at 10.50 a.m.

yesterday and immediately affected all services on the network. Traffic between Bermuda and the US was restored an hour later, while services to the UK and Europe returned to normal at 2.35 p.m.

During that time, telephone service to Europe was available via satellite but may have suffered from congestion as a result of the cable route's loss.