The Birth of a Digital Pioneer

The story begins in 1978, when France faced a peculiar problem. The national phone company, PTT (Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones), was hemorrhaging money printing and distributing paper phone directories. Someone calculated that giving every French household a free terminal to access an electronic directory would actually be cheaper than continuing with paper. From this pragmatic beginning emerged one of the world's most ambitious digital infrastructure projects.

But Minitel quickly evolved beyond its original purpose. By 1982, when the system launched nationally, entrepreneurs and established companies alike had recognized its potential. The killer app wasn't the phone directory—it was the ability to offer services directly to consumers' homes. Banking, shopping, travel bookings, news, games, and yes, the famous "Minitel Rose" adult chat services, all flourished on the platform.

The numbers were staggering for the pre-internet era. By 1990, over 6.5 million terminals were in use across France. More than 25,000 services were available, generating over 1 billion francs in revenue annually. In many ways, Minitel users in 1985 were doing things that wouldn't become commonplace on the internet until the late 1990s: booking train tickets, checking bank balances, ordering groceries, and engaging in online dating.