Is the telephone directory about to be the latest victim of broadband? A recent online article from United Press International suggests that Missouri will no longer require AT&T to distribute the White Pages to its customers. White pages would be distributed only at the request of customers. In the Atlanta market, where AT&T dropped the White Pages, UPI reports that only 1 percent of its customers requested the telephone directory.
One has to wonder if it would be less costly to provide subsidized computers and/or broadband for the 1% who still need a paper directory, as compared to the cost of producing the traditional telephone directory. One also has to wonder how long before the business telephone directory will reach similar point where its viability will also be in question.
The French PTT offered a similar service in 1982. I remember that the terminal used AMD modems. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel
Good memory and thanks for the insight. I hadn’t thought about Minitel in a long time. To your point, isn’t there an adage about no new ideas, only new packaging?