Telecom, a Russian company, says it has plans to create a Russian viewdata network analogous to the French Minitel system. A special terminal for Russian viewdata is to be supplied by French group Aniral UTEC, a founder member of systems integrator Interquadro, one of the first joint ventures to be set up in the former USSR. Aniral UTEC is an official distributor of Alcatel Business Systems, which is initially supplying the hardware. The viewdata terminals will be made at converted defence plants and should be substantially cheaper than a conventional personal computer. The first 1,000 French-made terminals will ship this year but it could take about three years to start local manufacture. Telecom was set up in 1990 by the enterprises formerly part of the ministry of Communication Equipment Manufacturing. Its 1991 turnover was 15,000m roubles (difficult to translate into dollars since the rate has been fluctuating wildly).
