Kokusai Denshin Denwa is starting a 2,400bps packet switching service on the Venus-P system from May: the international carrier currently has 12,000 users of its 1,200bps packet service, and the user base is growing at 40% per year – prices were cut this month to $0.27 a minute from $0.31, and the per-packet charge to 1.71 cents; the new 2,400bps service will operate to the CCITT X28 protocol.