Videocom

The Videocom, formerly known as Televideo prior to 2003, is a Rumahokian  accessible through telephone lines and the Internet, and is one of the last of such services still in operation, the other being Kirivia's MetNet. It was invented in Mauritius, Bahia.

Initially rolled out experimentally on 12 March 1977 in Adouka, Rosaria, and from summer 1977 in other areas, the service was introduced commercially throughout Rumahoki in 1979 by the GTA, a subsidiary of the NTCDC (now RumaTel). From its early days, users could make online purchases, make train reservations, check the news both local and international, search the, have a mail box, and chat in a simiilar way to what is now made possible on the Internet.

In August 2003, Televideo was rebranded as Videocom, spun off from the GTA as a separate subsidiary of RumaTel, and went through a series of massive upgrades as part of an ambitious government programme. The result was that Videocom could be accessed on the Internet now, and that dedicated Videocom terminals would only be portable, with replacing the previous non-portable terminals.

In 2031, Videocom has reported that the Videocom network has 35 million registered users.

Background
From 1891, one of the most reliable methods of getting the news electronically in what's now Rumahoki was through a news service over telephone lines known as the Electronic News Herald. Reliability of this "" grew as the technology got perfected, soon expanding the service from just urban areas to now serving larger swaths of land. Even as radio became mainstream, the technology initially didn't catch on in many of what's now Rumahoki. People saw no need to replace their subscription, especially as more and more options were added to maintain ENH's competitive edge in the region. However, with the introduction of television, most especially after television programmes were no longer sparse, many have decided that the convenience of sitting back and watching television was preferable to having to dial up an audio-only service that was quickly becoming old-fashioned.

In 1976, after the Delepasian Commonwealth was formed, the newly-established Blue Telecom Group (GTA) was tasked to create a new telephone service. One that used a video screen, made greater use of interactivity, and, most importantly, had to make use of a physical object that wasn't just the phone itself. In March of 1977, they began to experimentally roll out this new service to the city of Adouka, where it was met with great success from its test consumers. Encouraged, the GTA began to expand the service nationwide that summer where it was met with even more positive feedback. Satisfied, the service was christened Telévideo, a sort of of videoteléfono, and was released commercially in 1979 alongside the Televideo 1 terminal.

Business model
The Blue Telecom Group intended for Televideo to serve as an electronic directory of telephone and address information so as to increase phone line usage while reducing the costs of having to print and employing  personnel. Because the primary users of Televideo would be people who already have a telephone subscription, the terminals were given out at no additional cost to existing subscribers, and it served as an incentive for others to get a telephone subscription.

The GTA emphasised the idea of, boasting that a Televideo terminal would require only slightly more training than a simple toaster to operate. By offering a popular service on simple, free equipment, Televideo achieved a near-universal nationwide while at the same time avoiding any possible  scenarios which could've killed it. In exchange for a terminal, Televideo owners would only be given a paper copy of the, with the being exclusive to the Televideo where they can be accessed for free and could be searched through at a much faster speed than going through paper directories. According to the GTA, during the first two decades of nationwide operation, 16 billion pesetas were spent on purchasing terminals and subscription services, a profit of 7 billion RPT was made after deducting the payments the GTA had to give to information providers, and an average of 500 million pesetas annually were saved by printing fewer paper directories.

Technology
Televideo used initially consisting of a  monochrome, a  and a , packaged into a single tabletop unit. These original terminals could make use of a set of characters to depict a rudimentary form of graphics. The monochrome units would soon be replaced with colour units in the mid-1980s. Compatible printers were also available.

Televideo used a separate network dedicated to the service, anticipating mass-usage nationwide and not wanting any potential problems in the future. When connecting to the Televideo network, the terminal's built-in modem generally dialed a short code number connecting to a PAVI (Punto de Acceso VIdeotexto; "videotext access point") from the subscriber's analog. The PAVI would then be connected digitally via the Televideo network to the appropriate servers of the company or administration dialed.

The most commonly-dialed number was the prefix "00315", with "00317" being used by more expensive premium services. Billboard ads often consisted of nothing more than a company name, the "00315" number, and an appropriate image; the fact that a Televideo service was being advertised was made obvious by the ad's layout, comparable to the ubiquitous use of the ".com" suffix for later services on the Internet.

A Televideo terminal's modem allowed for a asymmetric data transmission. Initially, it could downlink up to 1200 bits/s (9 KB/min) and could uplink up to 75 bits/s (0.6 MB/min). Thus, download speeds were actually pretty fast for its time. This system was known as the "12H/75", or "1.2K/75". Although it was intended for general-purpose data communications, it found the most use for Televideo and equivalent services worldwide.

Televideo terminals typically use the keyboard, but variants using the  keyboard or even an ABCDEF keyboard layout exist in some models.

Rebranding to Videocom
In 2003, as part of an ambitious government programme to modernise and retain the Televideo service in face of the advent of the Internet, Televideo underwent an extensive series of upgrades to bring the service to the 21st Century. Some of the major changes was a new way of access via the Internet as well as the discontinuation of tabletop terminals, it being replaced with while any subsequent dedicated terminals would be portable that would be wirelessly linked to a modem which was linked by wire to the phone line. In light of these changes, Televideo was rebranded as Videocom in light of it no longer being exclusive to phone subscriptions, and was soon spun off as a separate subsidiary of RumaTel. Videocom's new business model now allowed for it to be given to ISP subscribers at no additional cost, much like it was back when the service was first launched in 1979. Other innovations included newer modems that could downlink and uplink at far higher speeds than before. These new modems could also be connected to an Internet modem or receiver, meaning that terminals had a quicker way to access the Internet.

The first post-upgrade terminal was the Videocom Rebirth Pilot, released in 2004. The device was the size of an average, and had a retractable physical keyboard and a with an appropriate pen. These new terminals were well-received, with Videocom reporting a net profit of 2 billion pesetas in the first eight years since the rebranding.

In 2014, it was announced that all future terminals, starting with the newly-released Videocom Touch G1, would take the form of a, but would also be provided with a detachable physical keyboard which the consumer may use as needed. The most current iteration of the Videocom Touch is the G7, released in 2031.

Operating system
Videocom OS is used to refer to the operating system running in all Videocom terminals since the release of the Videocom Rebirth Pilot in 2004. Although the Televideo terminals used a videotex system, Videocom terminals now make use of a full-fledged dedicated operating system, which opens up additional interactivity in ways that were not possible under older systems.

Televideo (1979-2003)

 * Televideo 1 (1979)
 * Televideo 3 (1983)
 * Televideo Express 2 (1995)
 * Televideo Lite (2003)

Videocom (2003-present)

 * Videocom Rebirth Pilot (2004)
 * Videocom Rebirth III (2008)
 * Videocom Touch G1 (2014)
 * Videocom Touch G7 (2031)