Bermudians and local businesses have saved between $75 million and $100 million since TeleBermuda International (TBI) entered the telecommunications market according to president James Fitzgerald.

Celebrating TBI's fifth anniversary yesterday, Mr. Fitzgerald said: "We are obviously proud and pleased of what TBI has accomplished in Bermuda."

He said before TBI arrived on the telecommunications scene, the long distance rate in Bermuda was $1.10 to the US and $1.35 to the UK, but added: "Today the best rate is 17 cents a minute."

TBI has also grown and now employs 40 people at their network operations centre in St. David's and at their offices in the new Bermuda Commercial Bank building on Victoria Street.

Mr. Fitzgerald said that one of the goals of the company was to reduce the cost of overseas calls and added: "This puts us in very good standing with what we said we would do from the outset."

He also said that when telecommunications firms started competing, the customer benefited as competitors also had to reduce rates.

Mr. Fitzgerald said it was important to note that five years ago there were a number of naysayers who said there was no room for competition in the small Bermuda market.

Despite this, following the granting of a telecommunications licence in May 1997, TBI has linked Bermuda via cable to New Jersey as well as linking Brazil and Florida, and Mr. Fitzgerald said that now, "all providers on the Island come to us for capacity."

Mr. Fitzgerald said more than 50 percent of long distance calls were now voice data rather than just voice and added: "We see this as a tremendous growth opportunity for ourselves and the Bermuda market."

As far as the future of the telecommunications industry in Bermuda, Mr. Fitzgerald said he believed there would be a further reduction in voice rates as costs came down, but not as dramatically as in the past.

He believed that nearly everything would be data in the future as the world moved into the digital realm.

He also said that in businesses today, and later for residences, nearly all communications would be done through cable lines.

A party to celebrate the fifth anniversary was held at TBI's head office yesterday and Mr. Fitzgerald said: "The evening is just one of the ways that we wanted to thank those people who have been instrumental to our success. Since entering the market five years ago, TBI has accomplished a great deal. The company has successfully transitioned from a voice service supplier to a full service international data, Internet and co-location hosting solutions provider."

Mr. Fitzgerald continued: "We look forward to extending and improving our products and services and will continue to meet and exceed our customer's expectations as we have done for the past five years. TBI remains committed to delivering innovative new products and services while continuing to lead the market in providing the very best of service at the most affordable rates."

At the party last night, two special silver pins were awarded to human resources manager Jolanda Brown and senior technician at TBI's network operations centre in St. David's Michael Desilva for their five years of loyal service to the company.

All TBI Staff were all presented with a watch to mark the anniversary.