NEW DELHI: DataWind has clarified that Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal had said that it will continue to supply the Aakash tablet and future demands according to the current order.

Putting all speculations to rest about DataWind‘s status in the current order and future tenders, a press release issued by it said the HRD Ministry will involve C -DAC and ITI to procure for the future requirements.

Clarifying this, Ministry Deputy Secretary N K Sinha said since the Government did not have enough capacities, they will have to involve other players. The next tender will be for five million tablets.

"This vindicates our point that DataWind continues to be a serious player in the supply of Aakash both for the present order of the Ministry of HRD and also future course", said DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli. "We never had any doubts about our position in the first place. With today‘s announcement by the Ministry, this has been cleared to all those who were speculating", he added.

Meanwhile, DataWind, the inventor of the Aakash tablet, has been named a finalist for the Global Mobile Awards 2012 (GSMA) in the category of Best Mobile Innovation for Education. The GSMA‘s Mobile World Congress 2012 will be held from 27 February to 1 March in Barcelona, Spain.

DataWind’s products are built around its breakthrough web-delivery platform, covered by 18 U.S. patents, which reduces network load and delivers a fast and efficient web experience on today’s congested mobile networks. Intended to empower a better quality of education through affordable devices and mobile access, DataWind’s Aakash/UbiSlate tablets deliver the power of billions of web pages of content and communication to students anytime and everywhere.

This award category aims to highlight the rapidly increasing convergence of the mobile and education sectors, and to highlight some of the key areas of genuine innovation in learning initiatives. There are a myriad of new ways that mobile is being used in the education context and environment.