Teleglobe International about constructing a spur to a new Atlantic fibre-optic cable.

The announcement came yesterday as the giant communications company hit back at claims by rival Mr. Michael Kedar, whose company is also in talks with Teleglobe about building a spur to Bermuda.

Cable & Wireless spokesman Mr. John Instone said the company has been having discussions for more than two years with Teleglobe relating to CANTAT 3, the new fibre optic cable that links the UK and Europe with Canada and the US.

Talks concerning CANUS, the link between Canada and the US, a related system and the feasibility of the spur to Bermuda have been ongoing for a year and are continuing, he said.

Mr. Instone also hit back at claims by Mr. Kedar, the founder of TeleBermuda International, that Bermuda was not represented at the recently concluded Teleglobe Data Gathering meeting in Montreal last week.

Cable & Wireless said that some of the remarks attributed to Mr. Kedar "may create an incorrect impression concerning the current state of Bermuda's international telecommunications systems.'' A C&W spokesman said the company was invited to attend the November 28-30 conference in Montreal "as the established international carrier for Bermuda.

Our attendance provided an opportunity for exploratory discussions with other correspondents as to their possible interest in using the spur.'' Mr. Kedar claimed that there were no other attendees from Bermuda at the conference.

The company also said that it fully expect to be one of the major users and participants in the FLAG (Fibre optic Link Around the Globe) system that is being constructed at present.

FLAG, with Bermuda offices in the Emporium building, is laying a fibre optic cable that is to be finished in 1997 through Spain, Italy, Egypt, The United Arab Emirates, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan.

M. Kedar had claimed that Bermuda risked missing out on being a part of the system.

Cable & Wireless said: "Three of the 12 landing parties are, in fact, companies in which Cable & Wireless has significant interests, namely Mercury Communications Ltd. in the UK, Hong Kong Telecom and IDC in Japan.

"Landing parties describes the companies responsible for landing the cable in specific countries. C&W, for example, is the landing party for the PTAT fibre optic submarine cable in Bermuda that is currently in use.

"Further, "Mercury Communications Ltd. is the operator of UK FLAG in Britain.'' The company makes the point that it has provided services for Bermuda to more than 150 countries for a number of years.

Mr. Instone continued: "Mr. Kedar's statement that his proposed operation `will allow us direct connection basically everywhere, which you know we don't have', flies squarely in the face of the facts.

"Cable & Wireless provides digital voice and data connections virtually worldwide and has been doing so for some considerable time.''