calls as well as phoning out.

The company announced on Friday that its subscribers had two-way calling after The Royal Gazette reported a surprise delay in connection with BTC had left them only able to make calls since the service began more than a week ago.

While callers could not receive calls, all their outgoing calls were free to compensate them.

Cellular One said on Friday that the technical difficulties were ironed out and they were fully hooked up to BTC.

"We would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to our customers for their patience,'' Cellular One CEO Kurt Eve said. "We understand how vital cellular communications is to our customers and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

"In addition, Cellular One has been working closely with BTC to resolve this issue and the company would like to thank them for their efforts.'' He said that although the company had been offering free local calls for all of its subscribers, now that it was hooked up it would start regular billing of monthly access and air time starting from Saturday just passed.

"We are very excited about offering the Bermudian public a choice in cellular service,'' he said.