as its new chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Bande was previously president of Sprint International since 1996. He will take over at Flag on January 12.

Before joining Sprint, Mr. Bande was president of Ameritech International, a unit of telecommunciations company Ameritech Corp.

Last week Flag began service on it undersea fibre-optic cable, which links Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. "Andres has the experience and understanding of international telecommunications markets to position Flag as a market leader, acting chairman Daniel Petri said in a statement.

Mr. Petri, who is also president of Bell Atlantic Global Systems, will continue to serve on the Flag board. Bell Atlantic owns 38 percent of Flag and is its largest shareholder.

Flag has 25 staff based at its corporate headquarters in Bermuda. Bermuda Stock Exchange listings manager Mary Sousa is leaving her position after two months to join Shell's trading subsidiary in Bermuda as the company's fixed income portfolio manager. She begins her new position on Monday.

BUSINESS BUC