BANGKOK, May 10 – Thailand’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology has contracted to purchase the first lot of 400,000 tablet computers to be delivered by a Chinese supplier in 60 days.
ICT Minister Group.Capt Anudit Nakhontap on Thursday signed a contract with the Shenzhen Scope Scientific Development, as part of the Thai government’s project to distribute one million basic tablet computers to primary school students.
Each unit costs US$82 including its android operating system and the cost of delivery to Suvarnabhumi Airport. The remainder of the orders will be sent to Thailand within 90 days.
First grade students are expected to receive the computers by July.
The minister said the specifications in the contract are higher than those the procurement committee had specified earlier. The new tablets are specified to be equipped with a 1.2 GHz CPU, 1 GHZ ram, 3,600 mAh battery and GPS.
Chinese Ambassador to Thailand Guan Mu said the tablet quality is high and the price is reasonable.
Tablets produced for children are not as complicated as those for adults. The Chinese company and the Thai agency will set up service centres in Thailand and will have spare computers for use during repairs.
