Bermuda is staying tight-lipped over its upcoming plans.

Hardell Cable Television Ltd. chief executive Harold Darrell refused to divulge what the company had planned when contacted by The Royal Gazette earlier this week.

"We do not wish to discuss our strategy about how we are moving along and what we are doing,'' he said.

He added that this was due to the increasingly competitive nature of the field of technology.

"We are active, we are getting on with it,'' he stressed.

The Telecommunications Commission recommended to Technology Minister John Barritt a year ago that Hardell receive a licence to bring 22 new TV channels to Bermuda on two conditions: that the company present programme contracts for review by the Department of Information and Technology; and that officials would have to inspect Hardell's facilities which were planned for the Cable & Wireless site in Devonshire.

A C&W spokesman was unable to shed any light on what Hardell were up to when contacted earlier this week.

Mr. Barritt declined to comment on the matter.

In October of last year, Mr. Darrell was reported as saying: "I've been heading this particular project for five years. Now we are five to six weeks away from installation.'' It emerged at that time that Hardell hoped to test its system and be operational before the New Year.

But in January, lawyer Alan Dunch claimed Hardell had approached Bermuda Cablevision and had offered to sell its licence to the established company for $10 million.

Hardell's system will allow viewers to rent movies and access pay-per-view programmes through their television sets.