A new facility offering Bermuda companies toll-free telephone numbers from the US could provide a shot in the arm for the Island's tourism and international business industries, the organisation offering the service says.

New York-based International Discount Telecommunications Corp., which claims to serve more than 50 Bermuda customers already, believes its new service will increase the amount of business carried out over the telephone.

At a rate of $250 per month, the system enables callers in the US to telephone Bermuda toll-free, without paying the rate of a regular long-distance call, IDT says.

Bermuda Telephone Company general manager Mr. Ernest Pacheco warned potential customers in Bermuda to check all aspects of the operation before subscribing to the service.

The Telephone Company already provides 800 numbers to Bermuda businesses, with rates charged over 30-second intervals, as opposed to the regular 60-second intervals.

IDT president Mr. Howard Jonas said the new service can be customised by allowing designated callers, such as larger customers, to have their calls forwarded to Bermuda, while other callers will be instructed to leave a voice mail message.

"We are now providing firms in Bermuda with local telephone numbers in the USA on which Americans can call them free of charge,'' a press release on the service says. "Our system is so efficient that most callers don't even realise they've made an overseas call unless they are told by the answering party.

"Having a local toll free number in the States means more business for firms in Bermuda, because it is much easier for Americans to call them.'' Mr. Jonas said IDT can also provide customers with local New Jersey telephone numbers, rather than 800 numbers, if companies want their callers to believe the business is in the US.

IDT earlier this year began offering a facility which allows callers outside the United States to telephone the US at the same low rates Americans pay to call overseas.

Rates in the US are lower than virtually anywhere else in the world. In many countries, rates are kept high because one telephone company has a monopoly, as is the case in Bermuda.

For the same price of $250 per month, IDT customers buy access to two telephone lines and a black box of electronics. The box contains an automatic dialler and a device that makes conference calls possible.

An overseas customer, for example, in Bermuda dials a number in New Jersey, lets the phone ring once and hangs up. The black box is programmed to call back immediately and will connect to a second American phone line.

When the caller in Bermuda picks up the phone he now has an American dial tone, which enables him to call anywhere in the US or outside and be charged at US rates.

IDT was established two-and-a-half years ago, but only began marketing itself seriously a year ago. Mr. Jonas said IDT has approximately 2,000 customers.