This offering was jointly managed by CIBC Wood Gundy Securities Inc. of Toronto and First Bermuda Securities Limited of Bermuda. A total of 2.118 million common shares were issued at a price of U.S. $8.50 to raise the total outstanding capitalization to 3.48 million shares. TBI will commence trading on the Bermuda Stock Exchange starting November 1, 1996 and TBI will apply for a Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) listing in the near future.
The initial equity funding will allow the Company to implement its network infrastructure including 1) the first phase of trans-Atlantic submarine fibre optic cable system, connecting Bermuda with Tuckerton, New Jersey, 2) the installation of a Northern Telecom 250/300 international gateway switch and 3) the installation of a Standard €˜B' Intelsat approved satellite earth station facility. "This will allow TBI to start operating on a level playing field with C&W, competing for the approximately US $100 Million annual Bermudian market, and set the stage for Bermuda to become a major transit hub", said Michael Kedar, Chairman & CEO.
The Company is planning to commence commercial service in Bermuda late this year providing international voice and data service to the growing Bermuda market. "With the growing demand for trans-Atlantic telecommunications traffic , particularly, the Internet, multi-media and facsimile services, which are growing at over 25% annually, we see Bermuda as a major port for off-shore electronic transactions in an advantageous tax environment which should provide significant incremental growth for Bermuda's telecommunications industry" said Mr. Kedar.
The first phase of the fibre cable system is scheduled to be operational by October 1997. This cable, called BUS-1, will have an initial capacity of 2.5 Gbts/sec (capable of handing up to 120,000 simultaneous voice conversations) and is upgradeable to 40Gbts/sec which would create the highest capacity of calls across the Atlantic.