BTC customers may soon be able to get access to cellular telephone numbers and the numbers of people who use other carriers through calling 411 for directory assistance.

And according to an application to the Telecommunications Commission, companies may also able to invoice for their services through the monthly BTC telephone bill. Last week BTC filed two public notices applying for approval for an expansion of the directory assistance role and a list of prices for a variety of billing services.

"There has been interest in both services," said Ona Fletcher, spokesperson for KeyTech, the parent company of BTC. "And it leaves it open for them to take up the service if they want to in the future."

She added: "The first notice is being driven by a need for the customer to call directory assistance at BTC and they can be given the cellular number of any carrier numbers who choose to sign up to the service."

The second service, she said, was an agreement to open up the BTC billing system to any company to use the BTC bill for their own needs. "Like a telecommunications company," said Ms Fletcher explained.

She went on to explain that previously both Cable & Wireless and TeleBermuda used to use BTC to bill, but have since split the bill and now send out their own invoices to customers.

And while she said there had been interest in this service from unspecified telecommunications companies, the notice would allow any company, and not just those who provide telephone services, to use the billing system. The applications will have to go before the Telecommunications Commission for approval before BTC can implement them and there is a period of 21 days for objections to be filed.

The first states the charge to use BTC directory assistance to list telephone numbers will be $12,000 per carrier.

The second notice lists the possible charges for using BTC billing services, which includes between $2.75 and $3.00 per subscriber charge for data processing, between 8 cents and 10 cents per page for printing, between $3,000 and $5,000 per month for system administration, postage of BTC bills at 50 percent of cost and separate bill postage at cost.

Ms Fletcher said that there was already a great deal of crossover between the carriers and BTC and that the notices set out charges for further business dealings between BTC and other telecommunications providers.