TeleBermuda International Limited has signed a connection agreement with Quantum Communications Limited to give TBI customers an alternate choice for the local delivery of their international data and voice communications.

Quantum Communications ? whose shareholders are Cable & Wireless (Bermuda) Holdings Ltd. and ATG, a joint venture between Ignition and Telecom and the Phoenix Trust ? owns a fibre-optic network in Hamilton and launched its data services network last June.

The company now has more than 60 corporate customers using the service and is poised to add voice services to its offerings in the near future.

TeleBermuda International Ltd. is an established international telecommunications carrier that provides long distance voice, data, Internet and collocation hosting services in Bermuda. Quantum's CEO Austin Woods said: "Our agreement to connect our network with TBI's ensures that our customers will have additional access options."

James Fitzgerald, president and chief executive officer of TeleBermuda said: "TBI delivers its international voice and data services via its own state-of-the-art, ring-redundant network. With TBI's points of presence in New York City and Miami, TBI customers are assured of virtually 100 percent network uptime and availability. By connecting the TBI network with Quantum's network our customers can now have a choice for the local delivery of their international communications."

Quantum will interconnect with TBI at its International Network Operations Centre in St. David's through a high-capacity microwave protected link. TBI and Quantum agreed on the proposed mode of interconnection to ensure that Bermuda-based customers had a complete and fully redundant, alternate network solution.