As many as 300 customers may lose their telephone service for several hours today.

Residents in the Alexandra Road, Devonshire area will have their regular telephone and DSL service interrupted between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

A spokesman for Bermuda Telephone Company said the outage is necessary to effect preventative repairs.

Corporate communications manager Gerald Collins said a worn part in the equipment must be replaced before it wears out completely and he said that BTC had just received the vital part yesterday.

"We need to replace this part right away," he said.

Fortunately the outage is not expected to affect Police Headquarters, CedarBridge Academy or Bermuda Broadcasting Company all of whom are in the general area.

BTC apologised for the inconvenience the work may cause to their customers.