Minitel stemmed in part from a want for projects that would result ...
Diagram of the Teletel platfo...
1.3 millions
This number would grow to over 6 Million by the early 90s
Listel, was quarterly magazine that provided a comprehensive accoun...
In its early stages, Minitel faced sharp opposition from French new...
Connection hours in thousands
Interesting enough both the Apple App Store and Google's play store...
TELEMATICS
and
INFORMATICS
Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 21-28, 1988
Copyright © 1988 Pergamon Press plc. Printed in the USA
0736-5853188 $3.00 + .00
THE TELETEL/MINITEL SYSTEM IN FRANCE
Jeffrey A. Hart
Abstract-The French videotex service, Teletel/Minitel, has been very success-
ful from the start. The French system is provided through a public packet-
switched network called TRANSPAC accessible via the public telephone lines.
The French government agency in charge of telecommunications, the
Direc-
tion Generale de Telecommunications
(DGT), controls TRANSPAC and the
main computers used to provide the Electronic Directory Service (an on-line
phone book which also lists occupations) through the Teletel/Minitel system
and has the right to approve or disapprove private information services made
available through a subsystem of TRANSPAC called
Kiosque.
The DGT de-
cided to make the Minitel terminals widely available to homes and businesses
by subsidizing the cost of the terminals.
THEFRENCH VIDEOTEX REVOLUTION
The DGT began distributing Minitel terminals in 1981 on a trial basis.
Seven hundred thousand terminals were in service as of April 1, 1985. By the end of
1985, there were 1.3 million terminals in operation. Of the 1.3 million, 1.146 million
were loaned to users for no charge; 158,000 were leased from the DGT. The rental fee
for Minitel terminals was 85 francs per month (around US$12). About 20,000 personal
computer owners were using the system by mid-1986, having adapted their modems and
software to provide a suitable interface (more below on terminal emulation software for
PCs) ("Facts, Figures and Profits," 1986). It was projected that there would be 2.5
million terminals in service by the end of 1986.
The decision to loan the simplest Minitel terminals to users at no charge was made by
Jean Paul Maury, head of videotex development for the DGT. This was probably the
single most important reason for the tremendous success of the Minitel/Teletel system.
In 1977, it was expected that the large number of standardized terminals could be
produced for around US$50 a unit. Contracts for supplying the terminals were given to
the two largest French telecommunications equipment firms: CIT-Alcatel (produced by
their Telic-Alcatel subsidiary) and Matra. Now a third company, Radiotechnique, also
produces the terminals. The actual price paid by the government for the simplest
Minitel terminal (the M1) was around 1,000 francs at the end of 1985, or about
US$140. But the goal of making the terminals relatively inexpensive was better met in
this program than in any comparable program in the world.
The Minitel MI terminals are small, as shown in the photograph (Figure 1); the
screens are capable of producing reasonably sharp graphics, but only in black and
white (whereas Prestel and the U.S. graphics-oriented videotex services all aimed for
color images); and the French system uses a completely unique graphics standard called
Teletel. Unlike the U.S. standard, NAPLPS, Teletel uses mosaic rather than pixel
Dr. Jeffrey Hart is a professor at Indiana University. He is currently associated with
"Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy" at the University of California.
21
22 Jeffrey A. Hart
Figure 1. A Minitel M1-B Terminal.
graphics and works with black and white as well as color displays (see examples in
Figures 2-4). There are six shades of gray available on the M1 and M10 (which comes
with an attached telephone) terminals and all Teletel/Minitel software is designed to
work both with the standard black and white and the more expensive color terminals
(the MC). Screens are painted rapidly thanks to the simpler mosaic graphics and it is
somewhat less difficult to program graphics screens for the Minitel than for NAPLPS
services like Viewtron, Gateway, or CompuServe. The main drawback of the smaller
M1 and M10 Minitel terminals is the rather cramped chiclet-style keyboard.
Home consumers were given a further incentive to accept the terminals when the
DGT announced that it would no longer publish a hard-copy version of its telephone
directories. Thus, anyone wishing to access the new Electronic Directory Service would
have to use a Minitel terminal, either at home or at the nearest post office. The
electronic directory was the most heavily used information service during the initial
period of service (about 20 minutes per terminal per month). It had the capability of
providing telephone numbers on the basis of name, location, and profession. Some
people used the system to locate long-lost friends and relations by doing nationwide
Teletel/Minitel system in France 23
MESSAGE
N o
5276
ON
110486
9H34
S
ENDER : G I LMORE
~vORHARDED BY : GILMORE
T I T LE :
II,,,II'E]I..,,C:IF..]IIMI]I!il: '][' LI...II il,,ll '.1[ '.ll.¥.lliiilll.Y]l.' ]lii.:'.',¢,'.
DEST I
NAT
I
ON
IP,'lhl::ll fill L,
YOU
HAVE TMO PASSMORDS ASSIGNED TO
YOUR
SUBSCRIBER NAME.
YOUR
FUNCTION-
AL PASSMORD IS THE ONE ME DISCUSSED
ON THE PHONE. YOUR PERSONAL PASSMORD
IS FIVE SPACES(SPACE BAR FIVE TIMES)
IF
YOU
SIGN ON TO THE SYSTEM MITH
YOUR
PERSONAL PASSMORD
YOU
CAN READ
MESSAGES MARKED PERSONAL
BY
THE
SENDER.
Figure 2. Example Screen of Honeywell's Videotex Support Center Electronic Mail System (using Teletel
Standard).
searches on the directory. Others used it to create mailing lists for newsletters and
advertisements at very low cost.
But the directory was not the only service available. The DGT was wise enough to
encourage a wide number of private firms to establish information services by setting
up a simple billing mechanism for private information services called
Kiosque,
making
approval for
Kiosque
services relatively easy, by subsidizing the establishment of new
services by providing assistance for videotex programming, etc. As of the end of 1984
there were already 1,000 data bases available through the systems. Roughly 700 of
these were for professional use; the remainder were for residential or private uses. By
the end of April 1986, there were 1,900 data bases on line.
Kiosque
revenues increased
from about I0 million francs (about US$1.3 million) in January-February 1985 to over
" ili-" -'ili iii-" -'iii ii!
FRANCE
~y
M.Del~ou~9"-Delphis
............... ............................................................
2. FRAMEHORE OF FRANCE.
3. FRENCH
NAMES.
AMERICAN
TOHNS.
4.THE FRENCH FLAG.
5. FEST I UALS
IN FAIRYLAND.
6. FASH I ON.
?.
FRAGRANCE.
8,FAMILY LIFE.
i~ 9.FEMININE
EMANCIPATION.
10,
FUTURE
IN EVERYDAY LIFE.
lJL. FRENCH HORDS
IN
YOUR
LANGUAGE.
JL 2 • FOOD
AND
BEY ERA GE.
JL3.FINE ARTS.
14.FAME AND FICTION.
Figure 3. Example of Teletel Mosaic Graphics Screen on Honeywell Videotex System.
24 Jeffrey A. Hart
................ F L IRE FI iRCE ........... I) ELB001RI-DELPHI g ..................
Pl',oduced
£o1P TELIC-ALCATEL
Figure 4. Example of Teletel Mosaic Graphics Screen on Honeywell Videotex System.
80 million francs (US$10.1 million) in November-December 1985 ("Facts, Figures and
Profits," 1986).
Examples of services available on
Kiosque
are:
• SNCF--lists all the schedules of the French national train system and allows you
to make on-line reservations
•
ARGUS-lists information about automobiles (the on-line counterpart of the ex-
cellent automotive publication called
L'Argus de I'Automobile)
• Tel'Ecole-provides on-line instruction in computers, foreign languages, sciences,
health, OPEC trade, etc.
• OBS- an on-line version of the popular magazine,
Le Nouvel Observateur
• LOGITEL- home banking for customers of the Societe Generale
• CADITEL-gift-purchasing and delivery service
• 3 Suisses- videotex shopping at one of France's largest department stores
•
Vinitel-direct purchasing of wines from vineyards, with detailed information
about varieties, vintages, and prices (there is also a mailbox for vintners)
• Professeur Susan-probably the most unusual service offered, an on-line instruc-
tional system for medical students with some artificial intelligence capabilities
• QUESTEL Enterprise-data base containing information about 75,000 enterprises
in France
•
FUNITEL-games and jokes (including a number of tasteless ones like on-line
Russian roulette)
• CRACJ -- games,
CB-type interactive dialogues, bulletin board
• CANAL CONVIVIAL-information service for arranging a
rendezvous
These items were taken directly from
LISTEL-the
directory of Teletel services-of
December 1985. This directory, which is reasonably comprehensive, costs a mere 20
francs and is sold at newsstands. It listed around 1,000 services in the December 1985
issue. There are also a number of very useful publications widely available for Teletel/
Minitel users: e.g.,
Telematique News, La Revue du Minitel,
and
Minitel Magazine.
Teletel/Minitel system in France 25
Roughly 40°/0 of the traffic on the Teletel/Minitel system concerned banking or
financial data and 20°70 concerned news or information about the media. A larger
number of individuals than expected used the system to read news headlines from the
more important newspapers and news services. The DGT consciously encouraged the
establishment of news-oriented information services as a way of convincing media
critics of the system (news services were among the earliest to be approved).*
The growth in Teletel/Minitel related telephone traffic has been enormous. In 1985,
Teletel traffic was increasing at the rate of 25007o a year. Total connect time for the
Minitel network (Teletel 1, 2, and 3) was 13 million hours in the first 6 months of 1986,
up from 11.7 million hours for all of 1985.
Kiosque
accounts for over 70070 of the calls
on the Minitel network. The demand for
Kiosque
services was particularly problematic
because people would come home from work and simultaneously call the various
leisure-time services. In June 1985, the entire TRANSPAC network failed because it
did not have sufficient capacity to handle the rapidly increasing load. Apparently the
digital switches of TRANSPAC became overloaded when people who were unable to
get through to the information services kept redialing the access numbers. While the
DGT increased its peak computing capacity, the delivery of Minitel terminals was
slowed and users were asked to avoid calling at peak hours. The failure of the DGT to
anticipate the collapse of TRANSPAC became another item in the general campaign of
telecommunications users to speed the deregulation of the system ("TRANSPAC,"
1985).
Despite these problems, however, the Teletel/Minitel videotex experiment has been
very successful. Since most of the
Kiosque
services create revenues directly for the DGT
(roughly 30070 of the fees charged to users for information services go to the DGT in
exchange for its provision of billing services and access to the public-switched net-
work), the DGT will rapidly recover the cost of buying Minitel terminals for leasing
and selective free distribution.
The private information services are doing well financially also. Total
Kiosque
reve-
nues in 1985 were 278.4 million francs or about US$38 million. Revenues for the first 6
months of 1986 were around US$54 million. The rate of increase in the number of
services has been very impressive: 414 out of the total 2,000 videotex services in France
are available on
Kiosque
("French Expert Spells Out," 1986).
Initially it was estimated that it would take five years for revenues from Teletel/
Minitel to pay for the subsidized terminals, but that estimate has been shortened to
four years in light of higher than projected revenue flows. But perhaps the most
important success has been in winning over the French public to the idea of using
advanced telecommunications technology in their homes, thus reducing the barriers for
the further spread of information technology in the French economy and society.
MINITEL COMES TO THE UNITED STATES
Honeywell Information Systems was the first company to offer a Teletel videotex
service in the United States. This service requires that the user have access to an
American version of the French Minitel terminals. The Honeywell system, which oper-
*Most of the data on Teletel/Minitel cited here are from a presentation made to a CIT-Alcatel Sales Meeting
in Charlottesville, Virginia, on July 15-18, 1985, based on data collected by Intelematique. I would like to
thank Georges Nahon on lntelematique and Bernard Tilge of CIT-Alcatel for sharing these data with me. See
also Epstein (1986).
26 Jeffrey A. Hart
ates out of Chicago, offers sample graphics screens (provided by Telic-Alcatel) and an
electronic mail system as shown in Figures 2-4.
In April 1986, Intelmatique, a subsidiary of France Telecom chartered by the DGT to
promote and sell Minitel/Teletel videotex systems internationally, announced that a
new Minitel terminal (the M 1 B) would be available which was compatible with both the
40-column Teletel videotex systems and with 40- or 80-column ASCII systems. They
expected that this would help improve the prospects for sales of Minitel terminals
worldwide, and especially in the United States. They discovered, in their French opera-
tions, that many heavy users of videotex did not want elaborate graphics capabilities,
but rather preferred the faster screen painting of text- or number-based information
services.
Those with IBM mainframes can get a Teletel/Minitel compatible server or receiver
with a product called TSV 5000 offered by a firm called Videodial in New York.
However, the price for this product is around US$20,000. Videodial is working with C.
Itoh and Company in a joint venture called Manifex, Inc., to provide turnkey videotex
systems in the United States.
IBM France is also marketing a similar product in Europe called Generalized Trans-
action Monitor, or GTM. IBM waited two years before deciding to support the Teletel/
Minitel system, presumably to see how the market would accept it.
There is not yet a simple way for microcomputer users to access the French Teletel/
Minitel system from the United States. There are a number of roadblocks. First, the
Teletel/Minitel system relies on the V.23 standard for modems, which is a 1200/75 baud
system-outgoing signals are transmitted at 1,200 baud and answering signals are
received at 75 baud.* The standard Hayes-compatible modems sold in the United
States will not work. What is needed is a protocol conversion system on both ends to
make the incompatible communications protocols compatible. Computer Sciences
Corporation in Los Angeles is working in collaboration with the DGT and Baseline in
New York to offer Minitel access via Infonet.
The MTEL series of software, written in France by a small firm called MCOM,
allows users to emulate Minitel terminals with their PCs. The MTEL3 software re-
quires the user to have a Minitel terminal next to his or her IBM-PC. This software was
used to print the graphics pages in Figures 2-4. MTEL4 and MTEL5 are two newer
products from MCOM which combine terminal emulation software with modem cards
(built by Matra) which eliminate the need to connect a PC to a Minitel terminal.
MTEL4 and MTEL5 both allow users to access Teletel videotex systems from anywhere
in the world, and MTEL5 provides the additional feature of supporting the British
Prestel videotex standard as well. Another unusual feature of the MTEL products is
the MTEL online session programming language which allows users to, for example,
produce mailing lists automatically with the Electronic Directory System. MCOM has
been stronger on product development than on product marketing and documentation,
however, so it may be a while before American users discover and begin to use their
products successfully. MTEL3 costs 1,800 French Francs (around US$ 250) and
MTEL4 and MTEL5 cost approximately US$600 (exact prices were not available).
Another French firm offering a software and modem card combination is Kortex
International. Their product, called X-Tel, also works with an IBM-PC to emulate a
Minitel terminal. The cost of this product is 5,950 Francs.
Another terminal emulation program available to American microcomputer users is
*In May 1986, the DGT added a Teletel/Minitel complex with 1,200 baud full duplex ports.
Teletel/Minitel system in France 27
called Mimics. Mimics was written for (and is distributed by) Intelmatique for less than
US$50 and allows users with IBM-PCs and Hayes Smartmodems to access the Minitel/
Teletel system through an X3.PAD. PC-users with V.23 modems can call the French
system directly with Mimics. Mimics will also be compatible with the Infonet link to
Minitel/Teletel.
WHY SHOULD THE REST OF THE WORLD BE
INTERESTED IN MINITEL?
The French system is the first truly successful, mass-market-oriented, graphics-based
videotex system in the world. U.S. systems based on NAPLPS graphics have been
largely unsuccessful commercially. Viewtron and Gateway recently shut down opera-
tions because of insufficient interest on the part of advertisers. Usage of those two
systems remained low after more than two years of operation. Although Trintex (IBM/
Sears/CBS), Grassroots, and the NAPLPS part of CompuServe remain in the market,
it is not clear how successful they will be.
A large number of interesting information services have been developed for the
Kiosque and other Teletel/Minitel services, which are bound to be attractive for U.S.-
based users as well as other Europeans. While the United States has a very great edge in
ASCII-based information services, as vendors move toward more user friendly vi-
deotex systems, services with graphics capabilities may have a competitive advantage,
especially for mass markets, over ASCII systems.
A number of large multinational firms are implementing Teletel-compatible systems in
Europe: for example, Honda, Mazda, Agfa-Gevaert, Corning Glass, IBM France, Mo-
bil, and BMW of France. Intelmatique believes that its most likely customers in the United
States, aside from multinational firms, will be the regional Bell operating companies.
The main lessons to be learned from the Minitel/Teletel experience concern the
importance of reducing the entry costs for users and producers is mass consumer-
oriented information services. What the French have done is to reduce the cost of
terminals to users (by direct subsidies), reduce the cost of setting up a new information
service (by providing assistance with software and billing), increase the variety of
information services (by allowing just about anyone to set up a new service if they have
the initial investment), and reduce the costs of learning how to access information
services by creating a standardized and highly user-friendly software interface. The
experience with Videotex in the United States, Britain, Germany, and Japan has been
much less exciting thanks to high entry costs for users and providers.
REFERENCES
Facts, figures and profits for French Minitel system. (1986, April).
Telematique News, p. I.
Epstein, N. (1986, March 9). Et voila! Le Minitel.
New York Times Magazine,
pp. 46-69.
TRANSPAC: Crise de Croissance. (1985, September).
Soft & Micro,
p. 39.
French expert spells out reasons why Minitel videotex succeeded.
(1986, May 6). Press release. (Available
from Young and Associates, Rockville, MD).
APPENDIX
NAMES, ADDRESSES, AND PHONE NUMBERS OF MENTIONED FIRMS
MCOM Videodial, Inc.
16 rue Larrey 1700 Broadway
75005 Paris, France New York, NY 10019
tel ( 1 )45-87-35-50 (212)307-5005
28 Jeffrey A. Hart
Intelmatique
98 Rue de Sevres
75007 Paris, France
tel (1)43-06-16-36
Young and Associates, Inc. (U.S. agent
for Intelmatique)
6187 Executive Blvd.
Rockville, MD 20852
(301)984-8556
La Revue du Minitel
5 rue Coq-Heron
75001 Paris, France
Computer Sciences Corporation
2100 E. Grand Avenue
El Segundo, CA 90245
(213)615-0311
Baseline
838 Broadway, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10003
(212)254-8235
Kortex International
29, avenue de 8-Mai-1945
95200 Sarcelles
tel (3)994-02-05
Connection hours in thousands
The growth of Minitel services
Interesting enough both the Apple App Store and Google's play store also charge a 30% fee on developer earnings (for developers making more than $1M).
1.3 millions
The Kiosque billing system worked as follows: when the connection to the desired service was set up, the service would send charging pulses to the subscriber's meter at a faster than usual rate to cover the cost of using the TRANSPAC network and the cost of the service. The TRANSPAC network kept track of the connection time and paid each provider as a function of that time.
As a result, the Kiosque system it protected the "anonymity" of the users, (it didn't require authentication with each service or payments in advance) and in addition service providers did not have to worry about billing and its associated administrative costs.
Minitel stemmed in part from a want for projects that would result in an increase of usage of telephone lines which had gotten a lot of investment in the previous decades.
Diagram of the Teletel platform showing the interconnection between the analog, circuit-switched telephone network and digital, packet-switched Transpac network.
In its early stages, Minitel faced sharp opposition from French newspaper and magazine publishers. An unregulated Minitel, they argued, was a platform for antisocial speech and State surveillance.
François-Régis Hutin, the powerful editor in chief of Ouest-France, the country’s largest-circulation daily said: “There is no phone book in Moscow, An authoritarian power or an invader could very well shut down the electronic phone book.”
Example of the type of images that could be produced by Videotex services
Listel, was quarterly magazine that provided a comprehensive account of Télétel services. In each issue, the thousands of active services were divided into two categories - services for the general public and services aimed at professionals - and organized according to more than twenty themes from agriculture and finance, to sports and leisure. Each listing included a brief description of the features of the service, its hours of operation, and the regions it served.
This number would grow to over 6 Million by the early 90s
