The teletel/minitel system in France

Abstract The French videotex service, Teletel/Minitel, has been very successful 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 Direction 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 decided to make the Minitel terminals widely available to homes and businesses by subsidizing the cost of the terminals.