Ken Sandefur, vice president of AT&T Hawaii, said the $291 million contract to provide and operate a new digital communications system for the military bases on Hawaii will require AT&T to hire people in well-paid technical positions.

"We will advertise this weekend for high-tech supervisors," Sandefur said. "We have 200 people in Hawaii now and the contract will take us to 300."

An arm of his company, AT&T Government Markets, was awarded the contract that the Defense Information Systems Agency estimates will be worth $291 million through its five-year base period and an optional additional five years.

AT&T beat out GTE Corp. for the contract, which calls for replacing the military's GTE-run Oahu Telephone System with new digital equipment to handle voice, data and video communications.

AT&T has one switching center here now, in downtown Honolulu. By the time the new system is operational, it will have 12 centers, Sandefur said.

"A lot of the jobs will be higher-paying technology jobs, higher than our current support staff and operators," he said. That will provide opportunities for advancement within AT&T, he added.

The contract consists of 8,000 direct connections serving 40,000 telephones. Sandefur said the contract involves building a new communications network. Sandefur said the system is only for official military communications.

A spokesman for GTE Hawaiian Tel, which has been running the military system since 1968, said today the company is evaluating the loss of the business and is unsure if it will affect employment.

AT&T also has another contract to provide personal telecommunications services for Oahu military personnel.