its standard phone charges by the end of this week.

Renee Webb, the Telecommunications' Minister, told The Royal Gazette she expected to hear their decision by Friday.

The nine commissioners met on Monday night to discuss the Bermuda Telephone Company's plan to increase line rental charges from $16 to $34 a month by July 1.

The charges would be temporarily set at $28 a month, backdated to January 1, should the decision be passed.

BTC executives say they want to increase the rates to cut costs after being forced to reduce charges to international carriers like Cable and Wireless.

They have already claimed to be losing $33,000 a day since January 1 -- saying they face a total loss of around $10 million and 35 jobs.

Union leaders are now in negotiations with company bosses in a bid to save the jobs.

But the redundancies could hinge on whether or not the firm is successful in its bid to recoup the extra cash through higher rental fees for BTC customers.

Ms Webb said: "I will not get the decision until everybody else gets it. I believe the commissioners are working on Wednesday and Thursday so I would expect the decision then -- and certainly by Friday when the 30-day notice period expires following BTC's initial proposals.

"I have to stay at arm's length from their deliberations because if any appeal was filed it would be filed straight to me.''