With the launch earlier this month of its new Mpowered PC Internet access service, Halifax-based Maritime Telegraph and Telephone is hoping to transform the concept of the Internet Service Provider (isp) into an essential household service.

Until now, isps have been fairly content to be defined rather narrowly as providers of Internet services such as e-mail, Web-site hosting, design services and consulting.

But Angela Parlee, mt&t marketing communications manager, says the technology used by Mpowered – a high-speed Internet access platform that never has to be booted up – could conceivably be used to control almost anything in the home, from televisions to home security.

Based on the technology’s broad-ranging applicability, mt&t feels the new service has the potential to join the ranks of lifestyle products that consumers just can’t live without.

‘The attributes (of Mpowered) – speed, access to software-on-demand and the ability to share files – all enables and enhances lifestyles,’ Parlee says. ‘We could transfer that to other home products.’

Despite mt&t’s long-term goals for Mpowered, the service is, as yet, simply a convenient and speedier version of a typical isp. In that sense, it isn’t much different than the Sympatico service, which mt&t, as a member of the Stentor long-distance telephone alliance, also offers.

This has presented something of an advertising challenge for the regional utility, because it needs to sell Mpowered’s existing basic service but doesn’t want people’s perceptions of the brand to be limited.

‘We very much view Mpowered as a platform, if you will, on which we will build other services,’ says Parlee. ‘So right now we’re talking about Mpowered PC but that whole concept of empowering hardware and customers is something we hope to transfer into other product areas.’

Eileen Reardon, Mpowered’s campaign team leader at mt&t, describes the project as ‘rather an ambitious undertaking,’ for the challenge is not just to launch a new category, but one for which future elements are unknown and even inconceivable, she says.

The launch campaign for Mpowered included a week-long teaser campaign comprising three billboard executions featuring images of dinosaur, a brain and a planet – with a telephone jack in the centre.

As well, ads featuring pictures of telephone jacks were sprinkled throughout the local newspapers. Initially, the advertiser wasn’t identified, but the mt&t logo and the tag line ‘Be Mpowered’ were added later to coincide with a four-page newspaper ad, which detailed the benefits of Mpowered.

As well, a direct mail piece was sent out to current Sympatico subscribers and some other mt&t customers. Parlee says more newspaper ads and a 60-second radio spot will break later this month.

All advertising was done by Cossette Communication-Marketing of Toronto.

So, what is Mpowered PC? It’s a service that provides Internet access using adsl technology – a transmitting tool that can send voice, video and data at incredibly high speeds over a single phone line.

What this means for the customer is that there’s no need to have a separate telephone jack for their computer’s modem. In fact, customers who live in Halifax right now (where Mpowered is currently available), can pay either $45 a month (if they use mt&t’s long-distance services) or $65 a month for a high-speed modem that allows them the privilege of never having to boot up their computer again. They can leave it – and the Internet – on all the time.

Further extending the Mpowered concept, mt&t is also targeting those customers who don’t yet have a home computer. To make it easier for them, mt&t is offering a leasing program under its Mpowered umbrella wherein it will help users determine what sort of computer they need and install it for them (see sidebar).

Mpowered PC also offers users a software library accessible over the network. It’s the same concept as network computing, except the Mpowered user works from a fully powered pc, according to Monty Sharma, chief technology officer for Mpowered.

Sharma says the technology that makes the library possible is an essential characteristic of Mpowered – and one that underscores its potential to integrate itself into people’s lifestyles.

He says a budgeting control system built into the technology platform enables mt&t to bill users for services used, ranging from software to something more complex like home security.

‘It’s the bedrock of what we’re doing,’ he says, adding that even the telephone system could be connected to Mpowered, which could then be programmed to budget and restrict long-distance phone calls by each family member. The list of possibilities is endless, he adds.