Removal of that program rattled observers, who said that OLPC needed to focus on small deployments as it provided a blueprint for larger laptop deployments.

However, the program "yielded very little, so our focus for now is national rollouts, with special emphasis on Sub-Sahara, Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan," Negroponte said. The company has already spun off or is in the process of spinning off operations in other regions and countries into separate organizations with their own staff.

The organization has spun off operations in Latin America into a separate unit called OLPC Americas, which already has close to 250 people working in Uruguay and Peru to handle logistics, telecommunications, technical support and teacher preparation. OLPC is in the process of spinning off operations in India, China and Oceania.

OLPC is also trying to redefine its operation in Europe, which already has its own board and finances, Negroponte said. It wasn't immediately clear if it would be spun off into a separate organization.

The restructuring comes after OLPC in early January cut half of its staff to cope with tough economic times. The nonprofit cut 32 employees, while remaining employees took salary cuts.