Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr E. Huseynli, S. Babayeva / Ali Abbasov, the Azerbaijani Minister for Communications and IT, reported on 10 May that the implementation of the 'People's Computer', which is intended for providing poor strata of the Azerbaijani society with PCs, will begin in Autumn.
The implementation will be completed in 2009.
The core of the 'People's Computer' Project lies in presenting PC for long-term credits under low interest rates to poor strata of the Azerbaijani society. Different alternatives on financing both at the expense of the Government and external sources are currently being under consideration. Microsoft is expected to present licensed software, with Intel presenting relevant equipment on lax conditions.
According to the preliminary data collected by the Azerbaijan Telecommunication Ministry today, only 3-4 PCs fall at each 100 persons in the country. If the project is successfully implemented, then this figure may increase by more than five times