its new and improved image to the public.

After an internal restructuring, the Island's telephone company, which provides the only local telephone service, has changed its name from Telco to the Bermuda Telephone Company (BTC) and revamped its emblem.

Assistant vice president of public relations Karla Lacey-Minors told The Royal Gazette that the company will be staging a promotion to mark the public introduction of the company's logo -- a wave.

"At the end of the month we will be having a promotion,'' she explained.

"The staff will be wearing buttons which state `Ask me about the wave'.

Anyone who asked them a question could win a prize.'' The new logo, she said, was just a part of a complete overhaul the telephone company has recently undergone.

"You can't just change the logo and not change the company,'' Mrs.

Lacey-Minors pointed out. "The Bermuda Telephone Company has been undergoing change over the last couple of years.'' She said those changes included restructuring the company and fine tuning some processes in a bid to provide customers with "the service they expect''.

"The old symbol was no longer applicable to the company of today and the way we are now doing business,'' she explained. "The old symbol was the bell which stood for the rotary telephone. We now provide more than just telephone service. We provide telecommunications service.'' Mrs. Lacey-Minors said the company's new make over began last November with the adoption of its new name, BTC.

"The next step was to develop a symbol to represent the changing and adapting the company would be doing,'' Mrs. Lacey-Minors explained. "But we did not want it to date us.'' "We hit upon the wave which symbolises to us one perpetual motion, which the company is in,'' she added. "It lets people know our changes are an ongoing process. I don't think we could have come up with a better symbol.'' In addition to representing grace and strength, Mrs. Lacey-Minors said the "wave'' was "organic to Bermuda'' and pointed out that after more than 100 years in business, the company had become a symbol of Bermuda.

"It demonstrates strength and makes a lasting impression on all that come in contact with it,'' she added.

Mrs. Lacey-Minors said the company stopped using the bell emblem in January and replaced it with BTC on their stationary.

And she said the new logo will be visible, beginning this month.

"It will start with new signage on the doors and in all public areas like buildings and trucks,'' she said. "Although we have already placed it on the billings.'' But Mrs. Lacey-Minors said it will take about two months to get the company's fleet of trucks outfitted with the new logo.

"The trucks will still be yellow,'' she noted. "But the symbol will be different.'' Workers will also get new shirts emblazoned with the new logo.

"The staff will have new shirts for the rest of the summer,'' Mrs.

Lacey-Minors explained. "The uniform will still be grey, but will have the new logo on it.'' And she said customers could expect to receive an insert in their next bill, outlining the new changes.

Mrs. Lacey-Minors admitted that the changes would take customers some time to get use to the changes. "We expect it will take anywhere from three to five years before people will instantly recognise BTC as the telephone company,'' she said. "We know and expect that it will take time. That is why it is important to start the process of communication.

"The key is to continually communicate the facts to the public and to explain the ultimate benefits to them. We expect most people will realise that a business has to change in order to remain vibrant and healthy.'' Karla Lacey-Minors