There is no question of TeleBermuda International Ltd, the long distance carrier and business internet provider, being closed down, and no possibility of the 40 staff losing their jobs, according to the company's president.

James Fitzgerald confirmed yesterday that the company was up for sale with about a dozen interested parties with some of them with Bermuda interests.

But he said the pending sale would probably take several months - slightly more than anticipated by the Minister of Telecommunications Renee Webb said earlier this week."We have about a dozen companies interested, both with Bermudian interests and international companies," he told The Royal Gazette yesterday. "We had quite a few more come and have a look. But it is a bit like selling a house, some people just come along to kick the tyres or see what you have in your kitchen."

This week Ms Webb said the sale of TBI was expected to close this quarter while the sale of GlobeNet, the former parent of TBI that was bought up by failed American telecommunications giant, 360networks, would soon follow.

She said at the time that it was hoped that any potential buyer of TBI ,which handles 50 percent of the international calls on the Island, would at least in part be Bermudian.

Ms Webb said that it would be in the national interest for the company to be locally owned as one of the two providers of fibre optic cable on the Island which is used for Internet and long distance connection.

But Mr. Fitzgerald said: "It is too soon to say who will buy the company. What we want to make sure is that whoever buys TBI will continue the partnerships and developments made so far."

Mr. Fitzgerald said he could not comment on the sale price or who the interested parties might be.

When asked about whether the buyer would be partly owned by Bermudians, Mr. Fitzgerald said: "If ACE were for sale, it might be nice to say that a Bermudian company should own it, but is that realistic? I don't know."

There has been uncertainty over the future of TBI since its US parent company 360networks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.

TBI is seen as key to Bermuda's infrastructure as it is the hub of an international fibre-optic link-up with the rest of the world. At its offices in St. David's there is a state-of-the-art server facility for the undersea fibre optic cable which was laid to the US in 1997.

TBI is now one of two providers, along with Cable & Wireless, which provides the cable needed to connect Bermuda to the Internet and the rest of the world.