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The Minitel is an online service accessible through the telephone lines, and is considered one of the world's most successful
pre-Internet online services. It was launched in France in 1982 by France
Telecom. Minitel also had a limited launch in Ireland in 1992, but never achieved the penetration levels that it did in France. An experiment has been done in Italy with an analogue called Videotel starting in 1981.
Since its early days, users could make online purchases, make train reservations, check stock prices, search the telephone
directory, and chat in a similar way to that now made possible by the Internet.
Business model
Millions of terminals were handed out free to telephone subscribers, resulting in a high penetration rate among businesses and
the public. In exchange for the terminal, the possessors of Minitel would not be given free "white page" directories, but only
the yellow pages ; the white pages were accessible for free on Minitel. France Telecom estimates that almost 9 million
terminals - including web-enabled PCs - had access to the network at the end of 1999, and that it was used by 25 million people
(of a total population of 60 million).
The Minitel allowed access to various categories of services:
- phone directory (free)
- mail-order retail companies
- plane or train ticket purchases
- information services
- databases
- message boards
- an unforeseen but major usage, porn services and erotic messages boards
(messageries roses)
Payment methods:
- Credit card for purchases
- Telephone bill for surfing time: rates depend on the sites visited
France Telecom charges Minitel users, at rates of up to €1 a minute, on their
monthly telephone bill. The rates depend on the service called; most services are far cheaper than the maximum. It then pays back
part of the sum to the companies that operate Minitel servers.
In the late 1990s, Minitel connections were stable at 100 million a month plus 150 million online directory inquiries, in
spite of growing Internet use.
In 1998, Minitel generated €832 million ($824 million) of revenues, of which €521 million was channelled by France
Telecom to service providers.
Minitel sales in the late 1990s accounted for almost 15% of sales at La Redoute and Les Trois Suisses, France's biggest mail order companies.
Technical
Minitel uses dumb terminals consisting of a text based screen, keyboard and modem. Simple graphics can be displayed using a set
of predefined graphical
characters.
When connecting, the Minitel integrated modem generally dials a special number connecting to a PAVI (Point d'Accès
VIdéotexte, "videotext access point"). The PAVI transmits information back on to the servers of the appropriate company or
administration using the Transpac
X25 network.
Minitel and the Internet
Minitel was often considered as an impediment for a fast deployment of the Internet in France, since it already provided safe
and easy online access for many useful services without requiring a personal computer. Indeed, it still has many advantages over
the Internet: it does not require subscribing to a service, buying and maintaining a costly personal computer, and there are
fewer security issues with respect to credit card payments and other personal informations. Also, because Minitels follow
well-defined standards, there are hardly any compatibility problems, which are commonplace with Internet services.
On the other hand, some argue that thanks to the Minitel, the French are used to doing transactions online, and will embrace
the Internet as it offers more value and convenience than the Minitel.
External Links
Minitel services are now available over the Internet. The scope of the service can be seen (in French) at http://www.minitel.fr/, though access to the actual
information is only available to subscribers.
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