Peru signs up for 260,000 OLPC laptops

One month after the One Laptop Per Child charity went into mass production with its $188 laptop, the Peruvian government has signed a contract to purchase 260,000 units. Nicholas Negroponte, an MIT professor and founder of the project, announced the deal on Saturday. He also revealed that Mexican billionaire and longtime friend, Carlos Slim, had ordered 50,000 units for distribution in Mexico.

In November, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) charity contracted Taiwan's Quanta Computer to start producing the green-and-white computer in its new Changshu manufacturing center, which is located north-west of Shanghai. The first countries to place mass orders for the rugged green-and-white laptops were Uruguay and Mongolia. Ivan Krstic, the director of security architecture for the OLPC project, has said that Uruguayan water and mobile-phone utility companies have allowed the organization to plant wireless access points on existing towers to facilitate the laptop's use.

Liam Tung of ZDNet Australia reported from Sydney.