Beltel was the name and trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 used by the South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n phone company Telkom for its Videotext

Videotext

Videotext may refer to:* Videotext, another name for Teletext, a broadcast information service* Videotex, an interactive information service* Living Videotext, a software development company founded by Dave Winer in 1983...

 system between the mid eighties and 1999.

The system used telephone lines and modems connected to personal computers

Personal computer

A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...

 or to dumb terminals which had built in modems and no processing functionality. Telkom's dedicated terminal was named the Minitel

Minitel

The Minitel is a Videotex online service accessible through the telephone lines, and is considered one of the world's most successful pre-World Wide Web online services. It was launched in France in 1982 by the PTT...

.

The system incorporated a billing system

Payment system

A payment system is a system used for transferring money. What makes it a "system" is that it employs cash-substitutes; traditional payment systems are negotiable instruments such as drafts and documentary credits such as letter of credits. With the advent of computers and electronic...

 which enabled information providers and service provider

Service provider

A service provider is an entity that provides services to other entities. Usually, this refers to a business that provides subscription or web service to other businesses or individuals. Examples of these services include Internet access, Mobile phone operators, and web application hosting...

s to receive payment for information and services provided to users

User (telecommunications)

In telecommunications, a user is a person, organization, or other entity that employs the services provided by a telecommunication system, or by an information processing system, for transfer of information....

. The billing system was capable of handling very small transactions, and referred to as Micro-billing. Today all of the functionality of the Beltel system, and more, is delivered by handheld mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

s or cellphones and PDA

Personal digital assistant

A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...

's which utilize mobile payment

Mobile Payment

Mobile financial services, also referred to as mobile money, mobile payment, mobile banking, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet generally refer to payment services operated under financial regulation and performed from or via a mobile device....

.