Minitel Télic terminal

Minitel, developed by the Post and Telecommunications ministry, was a specifically French innovation in telematics (accessing and receiving information via telephone network). It was installed experimentally in homes in Ille-et-Vilaine in 1981, where it replaced the printed telephone directory, then at Vélizy, where it also provided classified advertisement and messaging services. Via the terminal, companies and private subscribers could access videotext (Télétel) services offered by government and commercial providers. By 1985 more than a million terminals were in use. But the Minitel was supplanted by the Internet, which soon exposed the Télétel technology’s limitations. The Minitel network was still registering connections in 2012, the year it was ended by France Télécom.