Ottawa-based BelAir Networks has attracted US$20-million in private equity, including a strategic investment from the venture capital arm of Comcast Corp., the largest cableco in the U.S. This is Comcast Interactive's first Canadian investment. BelAir, which makes wireless gear used to build hotspots, is no stranger to U.S. telcos being part of AT&T's bid for the city of Philadelphia's municipal Wi-Fi system. Earthlink, however, won the contract. Comcast offered little insight into its Wi-Fi plans other than telling the Ottawa Citizen that BelAir is "well positioned to address the needs of multiple customer segments, including those of the cable market." Comcast has made other investments, however, in Wi-Fi  security and management software. You have to think Comcast is looking to BelAir's technology to protect its high-speed Internet business. Comcast and Verizon were less than pleased with Philadelphia's Wi-Fi plans, and lobbied the state legislature to block the city's plan. If free or cheap municipal Wi-Fi service is going to become a competitive reality, maybe Comcast and other cablecos and telcos need to get into the game by offering a service offering better QoS. Cablecos and telcos could sell Wi-Fi as an add-on to existing high-speed customers or as a standalone service. As for the the growth of the Wi-Fi market, In-Stat estimates that from 2004 through 2009, the market for wireless mesh network access points will grow from $33.5 million to $974.3 million. Aside from Comcast, other investors in BelAir's financing were McLean Watson, T-Mobile Venture Fund, JPMorgan Partners, VenGrowth Capital Partners Inc. and BDC Venture Capital also participated in this round.

Shaw Communications added 34K cable telephony subscribers in its fiscal fourth-quarter - numbers that impressed analysts even though it doesn't seem like a big number in the scheme of things. The 34K new customers came despite difficulty in porting lines from Telus, which was going through a strike. As well, Shaw only moved into Winnipeg in July. Analysts described the performance "strong" and a sign that price ($55 a month) will not be a growth hindrance. From a financially-disciplined perspective, Shaw may doing well but it only has attracted 54K customers in eight months, barely a dent in Telus' residential market share. If Shaw's prices aren't high, they're high enough that most local phone customers have not rushed to switch. The bigger question is how many customers can Shaw be reasonably expected to get. Perhaps 250,000 (at current prices) is a reasonable cap. If that's the case, should Telus really be worried? If Telus rolls out IP-TV and attracts 250K customers, is the battle betwen Telus and Shaw a wash?