In the three months after finally launching cable telephony service, Rogers has attracted 18,100 customers. This is not bad given the company has done a modest amount of marketing to avoid being swamped by new customers. The company's performance is similar to Calgary-based Shaw, which has managed its growth by charging its customers as much as $55 a month for service. While Rogers and Shaw have decided to adopt premium price strategies, Videotron is using an aggressive discount approach with service as low as $15.95 a month. While Videotron has signed up more than 70,000 customers, there are questions whether the company can make any money offering such low prices. Look for Rogers to become more aggressive in the fourth-quarter as it works out technical bugs and becomes more comfortable it can handle a wave of new customers, particularly those who already use its cable and high-speed Internet services.

We all know the trouble Google has faced trying to digitize library collections. This has not deterred rival Yahoo, which has teamed up with a number of partners to launch the Open Content Alliance. The OCA will host a singe repository of content from libraries, archives and publishers that will be searchable and downloadable at no cost for while respecting the rights of copyright holders. Waving the Canadian flag within the OCA is the University of Toronto, which is one of the founding partners and the responsible for aggregating north of border content. Yahoo’s other partners include the University of California, the National Archives (UK), O’Reilly Media, Inc., the European Archive. Adobe Systems Inc. and HP Labs.

 

And now for something completely different from the telecom equipment supplier market - consolidation in the form of a deal between two non-tier 1 suppliers. Meriton Networks, which jumped into the spotlight earlier this year by snagging part of BT's $19-billion next-generation network contract, is acquiring Mahi Networks. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, it can't be too rich given Mahi had sales of $5 million. What's particularly interesting about the deal is Mahi had raised more than $375-million in venture capital but re-loaded strategically last year after acquiring Photuris Inc. at the same time it completed a $70-million private equity exercise. This is clearly a case where the VCs involved with Meriton and Mahi, particularly Mahi, are hoping one plus one equals three as the fast-growing metro optical market continues to gain momentum. When Meriton said last week it was making a major announcement, my first reaction was it was being acquired - possibly by Nortel. Meriton said the Mahi deal will accelerate its plans by 12 to 18 months, including a possible IPO.

I'm thinking about launching a weekly product feature to look at cool, new consumer-focused communications technology. Instead of doing the typical tech journalist review, I'm looking to write for the guy on the street who's curious about the Treo 700w, for example, but he needs someone to explain why it's worth the money. So, if you're technology company with "cool" hardware, software or a Web based service, drop me a line. The main criteria is the technology has to be user-friendly - products that are made for the rest of us rather than bleeding edge. By the way - and I hope this comes across as more credibility-proving than boasting - my blog, for what it's worth - is ranked 3,840th by Technorati.