To shorten a time from an IC card is inserted until dialing is possible at the time of inserting an IC card into a public telephone set capable the using various kinds of IC cards.

This IC card terminal is provided with a list 13A for registering the number of times of the use of a card within a fixed period according to the classification (card type) of the card and a list 13B for registering the classification of the used card in the order of its use from the latest classification to the oldest classification. At the time of reading data from the inserted card, a CPU 11 executes a reading procedure based on the registered information of the list 13A by sequentially selecting the classification of the card whose number of times of its use is the largest in the list 13, and executing the reading procedure according to the card classification, or executes the reading procedure based on the registered information of the list 13B by sequentially selecting the latest card classification in the list 13B, and executing the reading procedure according to the card classification.