Bermuda's "excellent telecommunications infrastructure" proved "resilient" during hurricane Fabian, according to Telecommunications Minister Ren?e Webb.

"Despite the battering which Bermuda sustained during the onslaught of Hurricane Fabian the majority of businesses, both local and international, were able to keep in touch with their partners off Island and to transact important business," a Department of Communication and Information (DCI) press statement reads.

Tourism and Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb said that she was "delighted" that communication with the outside world was maintained during the hurricane.

"Despite prolonged periods of winds peaking at 155 mph, all of our main communication facilities remained operational and our e-business hosting facilities (were) fully functional," she said.

"Although there were naturally some local problems with domestic phone service, all of the main Internet Service Providers also maintained connectivity, which is a tribute to their planning and technical capability.

"This was very important as Bermuda, in seeking to be a leading e-business jurisdiction, clearly had to demonstrate that we can provide excellent hosting and Internet services whatever the elements may throw at us," the Minister added.

And she thanked Island businesses and their employees "for their dedication in showing the international community the capability, resilience and sophistication of our e-business infrastructure and why we are a natural choice for e-business".

Government's e-commerce consultant Nigel Hickson said that his department had taken a status report from the telecommunications companies and hosting facilities and businesses to determine how communications held up.

"We're not trying to pretend that no one lost their telephone connections but businesses that needed to do transactions during that Friday were able to take advantage of the fact that the Internet was still up," he said.