Hoping to lure more subscribers, Rogers Communications Inc. is now selling a tiny laptop computer in the same way it sells mobile phones. Rogers is subsidizing the cost of an HP Mini 110, an Internet-ready, bare-bones netbook, for customers who sign a multi-year contract and pay at least $25 a month plus a $7 system access fee.

Customers will be able to use Rogers’s wireless network to surf the web up to a prescribed limit. This makes Rogers the first Canadian carrier to offer netbooks as a way to increase usage of its data network. In the US, Verizon and AT&T have been offering netbooks for a few months. The HP Mini netbooks will cost $300 at Future Shop and Best Buy stores when coupled with a two-year contract.