Francis Mussenden began working for the Bermuda Telephone Company in 1974 as a linesman who went to customers' houses to repair their phone lines.

On September 9 this year, Mr. Mussenden will become the chief executive of the company he has worked for since he was 17.

The telephone company announced Mr. Mussenden's appointment yesterday, two months after it said the current CEO, Lorraine Lyle, would become the vice president of International Operations at Key Tech, BTC's parent company.

Employees were so excited about the appointment yesterday that Mr. Mussenden ditched plans yesterday to sit down with reporters for interviews so he could go on walkabout and visit workers scattered between the company's various locations.

The congratulations he received were impressive - Mr. Mussenden was greeted by applause everywhere he went as he toured BTC's facilities, where television screens announced his appointment as CEO.

One employee came into the office while on vacation to congratulate him. Another sent him an e-mail with the following subject line: "Congratulations. I lived to see it. This indeed is a very historic occasion."

At BTC's depot on St. John's Road, a woman passenger in car clapped her hands through the window at Mr. Mussenden as the car drove into the parking lot.

"When we found out this morning, the morale was just boosted," said Barbara Crossdale, a data technician tester who works in BTC's central exchange next to the bus depot.

People will have a different attitude to their job, she said, because someone who has risen through the ranks and knows the employees is in now charge.

"He's capable and he has my full support," she said.

If employee enthusiasm lasts, it could be just what BTC needs to turn its reputation around.

Although the company has upgraded its technology to offer new services over the last few years, like DSL high-speed Internet access and digital cellular service, customer service has not kept pace.

For a long time, the telephone company has suffered from customer complaints about how long it takes to get a new telephone line or get an existing one fixed, among another things.

Some people waited weeks before BTC responded. Copying letters of complaints to The Royal Gazette was about as vicious as most disgruntled customers got, although last March, businessman Richard Powell got so frustrated about BTC's inability to fix his lines that he hijacked one of the company's trucks with a forklift and told the employee he was not leaving until his telephone service was restored.

BTC has also found itself in several labour disputes with its employees over the last few years because of cost-cutting measures.

Mr. Mussenden said his first order of business would be to "change the corporate culture at BTC in a way that improves productivity, providing the highest level of customer service possible", a project for which "the groundwork is already in place." Mr. Mussenden would not detail his plans yesterday and a press release yesterday said they would be revealed "in the coming months".

A BTC spokeswoman said Mr. Mussenden would need time to evaluate the company before he could get specific about its future.

Mr. Mussenden's rose to his position after taking advantage of several training opportunities during his 28-year tenure with the company, including various technical courses related to telecommunications. Beginning in 1984, he took a leave of absence to study electrical engineering at Howard University in Washington, D.C., graduating with a bachelor of science degree.

In the early nineties, he received Masters in Management and MBA degrees from Webster University on the US Naval Air Station in St. David's.

At BTC, he worked in the Marketing and Sales department and assumed responsibility for developing BTC's mobile telephone services 1991.

Mr. Mussenden is being promoted from the assistant vice presidency of the network operations area, a position he assumed in 1999. Assistant vice presidents are two ranks below the CEO, with senior vice presidents in between.

Ms Lyle, the present CEO, arrived at BTC from Canada in 1997. Her work permit came up for renewal in 2000, but a replacement Bermudian was not found. At the time, the company said there were a number of people who could eventually succeed her, although no one in particular was being groomed.