Bermuda needs to carve out a niche for itself as a centre of excellence for e-business in order to attract Fortune 500 companies to set up their e-ventures on the Island according to the E-commerce Consultant to the Ministry of Telecommunications and E-commerce Nigel Hickson.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette yesterday, Mr. Hickson said that to achieve this Bermuda did not just have to market itself abroad, but also improve its infrastructure on-Island.

And he said that this would be the basis of the National Plan, which is currently being completed by the Ministry.

He said that after consultation the National Plan would be put before Parliament by Minister of Telecommunications and E-commerce Renee Webb before the House of Assembly broke for the summer recess.

"We need to carve out a niche to attract some Fortune 500 companies," said Mr. Hickson. "If they want to put themselves on the web, we want to be the place they think of coming to."

He said that instead of putting these companies in places like Los Angeles and Chicago where they were headquartered, he wanted some of them to think about moving offshore.

"As more and more companies think about putting more and more business on the internet, companies become even more global," he said.

And he added that companies would not just come here for tax breaks, but because it was a good place to do business.

"The National Plan will be looking also at the local market and that would be good for all sectors," he said.

"We will look at how we can attract more business but also at the local service, and together move forward to increase e-business on the Island. It is going to be fairly comprehensive."

He said that when he arrived on the Island the focus for the document was on marketing Bermuda as an e-business jurisdiction, but now the focus has shifted slightly as it is recognised that service locally needs to be targeted as well.

He added that the National Plan would be a living, evolving document, and would constantly change as e-business changed.

The 30 to 50 page document is now in its draft stage and is currently going through a consultative phase and will include some guidelines on improving the computer access in schools.

The National Plan for e-commerce has been in the works for several years and is believed to be aimed at developing Bermuda as a global e-commerce centre.

Last week Ms Webb unveiled statistics from a survey called 'Charting the Second Wave', which showed that 95 percent of companies have internal e-mail and 92 percent have access to the internet.

It also showed that businesses, both local and international, expected their use of e-business to grow substantially over the next few years.

Ms Webb said: "The statistics will be used for the National Plan." She revealed that a basic draft of the National Plan was out and was now in consultation with the private sector.

"We had a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce and are getting feedback and input and that will be part of the document," she said.

In March 2000, The Royal Gazette said that the E-commerce Advisory Board was completing a National Plan for e-commerce.

At the time, Ms Webb said that the plan would cover areas including the development of the necessary educational resources, a marketing plan and the required infrastructure.