which frustrated hundreds of telephone callers yesterday.

Calls between the east and west ends of the Island were badly disrupted throughout the day.

People in several parishes complained of a constant busy tone from midday onwards.

The problem was traced to the Bermuda Telephone Company's Paget exchange.

Last night Telco general manager Mr. Ernest Pacheco said the cause of the fault was still unclear.

But he was confident it would have been put right by today.

"We have been working on it for several hours, and have narrowed down the probable causes,'' he said.

Callers hit yesterday were those dialling between two sets of num bers.

These were numbers prefixed 292, 293, 295, 297 (St. George's, Hamilton and east exchanges), and 234, 236, and 238 (Paget, Southampton and west exchanges).

Thus, anyone dialling from a 292 number to a 234 one, or vice versa, would be affected.

Earlier this year telephone callers faced similar disruption following a fault.