Confirming a rumour that started weeks ago, BCE Inc. announced June 20 that it's talking to BC-based telco Telus Corp. about merging. This is part of the company's review of "strategic alternatives…to further enhance shareholder value," according to a press statement. As usual, BCE said "no assurances can be provided that any offer…will be accepted." Earlier this month the Bell Canada parent company confirmed that a consortium including Teachers' Private Capital and Providence Equity Partners Inc. had entered into discussions. In May BCE said a consortium including Cerberus Capital Management LP and a group of Canadian investors were involved. And in April BCE put to rest the sale rumours by confirming that it was discussing with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board.

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Continuing a trend towards integrated UC-server systems, Ottawa's Mitel Networks Corp. announced a global agreement with Sun Microsystems Inc. that should see Mitel's unified communications equipment married to Sun's servers. Designed for multi-tenant dwellings, the combined offering supports up to 200 instances of Mitel's IP Communications Platform so numerous tenants can share the same Sun Fire X4200 or X4600 servers, but they don't have to have the same communication-system configuration.

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SilverBirch Inc. announced a partnership with Atari Inc. recently that will see the Toronto-based mobile content and gaming developer port Atari's popular PC title N to handheld gaming systems such as Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Nintendo DS and Sony of Canada's PSP.

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Rogers Wireless chose nextMEDIA 2007 as the venue to announce a new production fund catering to wireless content. While details are scant at present, the Rogers Wireless Mobile Production Fund will provide both monetary resources and "visibility" on Rogers Wireless' network, which boasts nearly seven million subscribers. More on the fund – including grant amounts, deadlines and guidelines, submission criteria and its board of representatives – will be revealed on September 30.

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