Rogers announced today the launch of its Home Phone telephony service in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) starting July 1st.  The much anticipated launch announcement did not bring in too many surprises, as Rogers Home Phone will apparently follow the pricing of Sprint Canada's local and LD offerings.  In order to give customers an incentive to bundle, customers who sign for the telephony service will receive a 15% discount, albeit that will come at a price (a two-year contract). 

The discount over Bell Canada will depend on the service option and the bundling discount.  For instance, for a basic line plus 3 services (from a list that includes voicemail, call display, call waiting, call forward, call return, 3-way calling, call screen, call transfer, and speed call) the Rogers price will be $37.95 without the bundle (a 14% discount over Bell's $44 rate) or $32.26 with the bundle (a 27% discount over Bell's $44 rate).  However, for the standard plan with one feature and no bundling, the Rogers discount is only 3%.  This is in line with my expectations - in other words, "rational pricing".  This is economics 101 - there is no major incentive for Rogers to really drop the pricing too much (a la Videotron), as that would not necessarily be profit-maximizing, particularly considering the fact that Rogers also can parlay its vast wireless infrastructure.

What can one expect for uptake?  Perhaps a conservative estimate would call for 25k subs by year end and 10x that (or a quarter million lines) by YE 2006.  But a lot of that depends on features, initial system performance / customer satisfaction and what Bell Canada might do to counteract this expected move by Rogers.  So how does Rogers pricing stack up against its cable peers?  Not as attractive as Videotron, but certainly better than either Cogeco or Shaw.