Telecommunications (Bermuda and West Indies) Limited's $6 million investment in a mobile telephone infrastructure will bring e-mail capabilities to mobile phones by April.

The company, which operates under the name Telecom, announced last month that it will introduce cellular service operating under the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) standard to compete with the Bermuda Telephone Company and CellularOne.

When the service is launched, subscribers will be able to check their e-mail and send short messages between phones -- a recent phenomenon among GSM users, who sent 12 billion messages worldwide last October instead of making voice calls. Eventually, Telecom plans to introduce services that will deliver news headlines, sport scores, stock figures and web pages to the screens of subscriber phones.

As of October 2000, there were 396.6 million GSM subscribers worldwide, accounting for 60.6 percent of all wireless users. The widespread technology will allow Bermudians to use their digital phones in more than 100 countries.

Telecom is currently signing agreements with major GSM providers, including British Telecom's mobile unit, BT Cellnet, and VoiceStream and BellSouth of the United States.

The providers will offer Bermudian subscribers the same extra services Telecom will provide at home. CellularOne, which operates on a different digital standard, currently offers roaming service in North America, Malaysia, Hong Kong and is signing agreements with South American carriers.

The European and American versions of GSM operate on two different frequencies, and Telecom has chosen the North American version because of Bermuda's visitor demographics and Bermudians' travel tendencies.

But dual-band phones will allow travellers to use their phones outside North America, while subscribers with single-band phones for use in the United States and Canada will be able to place microchipped smart cards in European phones and keep the same number and billing information.

Telecom its equipment and software, provided by Nortel Networks, to ensure a smooth transition to 3G technology, which is scheduled to arrive in 2003 at the earliest. When deployed, 3G will allow for data speeds of up to 384 kilobytes per second (a standard modem operates at 56 kilobytes per second) and provide high-speed Internet connections.

Telecom to launch mobile e-mail Many expect GSM and its daughter technologies like 3G to override other standards, evidenced by AT&T Wireless's decision last month to overlay a GSM network on its existing infrastructure in North America.

Firoz Kassam, Telecom's vice president of marketing and business development, dismissed claims that Bermuda's cellular market is already saturated. With the establishment of CellularOne in 1998 and BTC's marketing blitz in 1999 for its MAX digital cellular service, there has been a sharp increase in the penetration of mobile phones which, according to Mr. Kassam, currently stands at about 33 percent of the population.

But in some European countries where GSM is already offered, between 50 and 60 percent of the population own a mobile, he said.

And Mr. Kassam said he didn't expect trouble convincing people to convert from the existing technologies.

"With GSM, wireless customers get the richest, proven, advanced digital technology available in the market place today,'' Mr. Kassam said in a statement.

"GSM offers a wider range of features and functionality than emerging technologies... and customers get unparalleled call privacy and fraud prevention.'' Mr. Kassam also said GSM offers the best wireless voice quality and added that tests indicate near parity with wired phones.

But Michael Leverock, CellularOne's chief operating officer, expressed concern about the entrance a third competitor.

"Bermuda has a finite market base, and I think growth can be adequately handled by two carriers,'' he said.

"I'm not one hundred percent convinced that a third carrier can exist. But maybe it will.'' Mr. Leverock would not reveal how his company might enhance services to compete with the upstart, although he did say new rates would be introduced early this year in conjunction with digital service.

A spokesman for BTC Mobility only said the company was confident that it will maintain its market position and "(looked) forward to healthy competition'' with a company which will continue as one of the primary dealers for its mobile phones.

In addition to its business as BTC agent, Telecom currently provides paging and two-way radio service.