Cable & Wireless Bermuda last night continued to stand by its original cash offer for KeyTech Limited despite a report in The Financial Times that suggested its UK-based parent was poised to table a revised offer to buy the local telecom giant.

The report said Cable & Wireless plc would revise the original offer of $205 million because it had been ?rejected?.

When the company made the offer last month, KeyTech?s board, which only has a small total shareholding in the company, advised shareholders that it opposed the offer as ?not in the best interests of shareholders?.

KeyTech is the parent company of Bermuda Telephone Company, M3 Wireless, Logic Communications, Bermuda Yellow Pages and part-owner of QuoVadis and Cablevision. It posted income of $11.7 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006, a 16 percent increase over the previous year.

Yesterday, however, Eddie Saints, president and CEO of Cable & Wireless Bermuda Ltd. stood by the original $205 million offer.

?Our response is as before,? he said. ?We have made what we believe is a fair value offer, which represents 35 percent plus premium to shareholders. If KeyTech would like to show us where any additional value is, we would be happy to explore this with them.?

The Financial Times also reported yesterday that Cable and Wireless plc is considering other acquisitions abroad as it seeks to convince investors that it is on a path to long-term revival.

Harris Jones, chief executive of C&W?s international businesses, told the Times he was confident that through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions he could increase revenue abroad. Besides Bermuda, he expressed an interest other acquisitions, pointing to Jersey?s state-owned telecom company as a possible target.

?We intend to be robust in looking at more acquisitions,? he said

Mr. Jones said there were no constraints on his use of cash generated by C&W?s international businesses following the group?s reorganisation in January.

?If you look at the size of the transactions we are targeting... and the use of leverage, we have got absolutely no financial constraints on our ability to grow this business,? he said.

C&W?s international business has operations in 33 countries, and generated around 38 percent of turnover in the 2005/06 financial year.

Efforts to improve the group?s troubled UK operations would have no impact on his strategy, he said. C&W has been involved in on-going restructuring efforts in the UK including reducing the complexity of its products and systems with plans to focus on fewer and larger corporate customers. It also plans to reduce its current headcount of 5,500 to between 2,500 and 3,500 over the next four to five years.