The price of the UK version of the French Minitel viewdata terminal has been cut by 25% to UKP300 in a special promotion running until March. Telic Alcatel, the CGE subsidiary which manufactures the Minitel, has agreed to offer up to 10,000 of the small screen terminals at the special promotion price through its UK resellers, Blick International Systems Ltd of Swindon, Wiltshire and Roneo Alcatel in Romford, Essex. The announcement was made at the Videotex International exhibition last month, and has been made in celebration of what Alcatel claims is the two millionth Minitel terminal built. The terminal is the most successful outcome of a late 1970s plan by the French government to foster local manufacturers by promising them enormous public sector contracts for new products in return for a very low unit price.
