NEW YORK: A programme to provide millions of low-cost laptops to students in poor countries is set to start production in September even as commercial competitors prepare to offer even cheaper models.

The idea from Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory, who proposed the project at the World Economic Forum in Davos two years ago, has moved closer to fruition.

Negroponte sees the computers to be sold in bulk to governments of certain countries, as a linchpin of education and development.

The non-profit organisation he formed — One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) — attracted support of leading businesses and institutions and will start production later this year, Michail Bletsas, chief connectivity officer at OLPC, told the news agency.

The laptop is being made by the Chinese firm Quanta and its goal is to manufacture 40,000 laptops in a month starting from September, then step up production to 400,000 per month by the end of the year.

“OLPC would like to manufacture at least three million units in the first round of production,” he said.

But OLPC could not say which countries were planning to order the laptops, spokeswoman Jackie Lustig said. Volume shipments to developing nations were planned for later this year, she said.

“OLPC is in talks with Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Nigeria, Thailand, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda and many other countries — but nothing definite just yet,” she said.

The new computers will not carry the symbolic price tag of 100 dollars, at least not right away. The first models will cost 175 dollars and OLPC hopes the price will come down to 100 dollars by 2009.

Negroponte wanted to have an innovative, specifically tailored laptop — called the XO — that would be very small, hardy, user-friendly and use the free Linux operating system, not Microsoft’s Windows, which dominates the world market.

Sponsors of the project include chip maker AMD; RedHat, which is supplying the operating system; Google, eBay, and NewsCorp.

OLPC dropped plans for the laptop to have a manual charger to cope with any lack of electricity, but has built in several features.—AFP