Will launch upgraded Aakash tablet next month: Sibal

Telecom Minister says tablet will be made domestically, govt to invite manufacturers across the world

A faster and enhanced version of low-cost tablet PC, Aakash, would be launched next month, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said today.

"The second version of Aakash will be launched in May," Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of World IT forum 2012 here. The tablet will be produced domestically, and in this regard the government is talking to various manufacturers from across the world.

"After freezing the technology, we will start manufacturing it. We are calling people from across the world to manufacture it and some people have shown interest," Sibal said.

The new tablet would have a better 3200m AH battery with a three-hour backup, a 700-MHz Cortex A8 processor and a capacitive touch screen which would get over the earlier issues observed in the tablets, Sibal had said earlier.

Recently, Datawind, the maker of Aakash, and Quad Electronics, which is the contract manufacturer of the tablet, have been trading charges against each other.

Quad has said it has not been paid for its work by the tablet maker alleging the letter of credit issued by Datawind was dishonoured and it has not received any payment for its work.

However, Datawind has been claiming that all the payments that was due to Quad have been cleared, except for the 600 units that remain unpaid by IIT-Rajasthan.