Bangladesh on Tuesday unveiled a $130 locally made laptop that it hopes will help bridge the digital divide in the impoverished South Asian country. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled the Doel - or magpie - laptops at a ceremony in the capital Dhaka, saying the computer, made by state-owned telecom company TSS, would help Bangladesh become a middle-income nation by 2021.
"(There are) four types of Doel laptops, the most basic one is priced at 10,000 taka ($130). The highest price is 26,000 taka," said government spokesman Shefayet Hossain. Hossain said the idea of the cut-price laptops came from the education ministry, which aims to distribute them to tens of millions of poor students. TSS has struck joint venture deals with two private companies to produce and market the laptops across the country, he added. The Doel is Bangladesh's national bird. Digital inclusion has the potential to bring education to people in countries where educational infrastructure is limited, experts say.
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