Khaunte Announces Har Ghar Fiber Rollout and Four New CSCs Across Goa
Porvorim, July 29, 2025: During the ongoing Assembly session, Minister for Information Technology, Electronics & Communications, Shri Rohan A. Khaunte announced two major initiatives to accelerate digital access across Goa. Goa will get Har Ghar Fiber, ensuring high-speed internet connectivity to every household. He further stated that the rollout will begin on a pilot basis in Porvorim, Sankhalim, and Bicholim.
Further enhancing last-mile delivery, four new Common Service Centres (CSCs) will be established in Darbandora, Valpoi, Panjim, and Porvorim to strengthen citizen access to digital services in both rural and urban constituencies.
The Minister highlighted the broader digital infrastructure supporting these efforts. Under the Goa Broad Band Network (GBBN), 414 locations, comprising 189 Village Panchayats and 225 government offices are connected, extending secure network coverage to over 1,500 government and institutional offices across the State. Public internet access is being enhanced through 137 Wi-Fi hotspots installed across all 40 constituencies, with locations prioritised based on inputs from local MLAs. These hotspots currently support over 52,000 active users, with a strong emphasis on rural connectivity. Digital service delivery has seen significant expansion. The GoaOnline portal currently offers 247 end-to-end services from 41 departments, having facilitated over 31 lakh transactions and benefited more than 8 lakh citizens. These services are also available through the CSC network to ensure accessibility at the grassroots level.
The Minister also shared progress on Goa’s startup ecosystem, which now includes 759 registered startups under the Goa Startup Policy and DPIIT.
The Government has disbursed ₹4.10 crore through various startup support schemes. Under the Seed Funding Scheme, 28 startups have received assistance of up to ₹10 lakhs each. In line with its IT Policy, the State has registered 18 IT units, disbursing ₹80 lakhs in performance-based incentives to promote investment, job creation, and sectoral growth. The Government is also planning to establish a Drone Design and Aero Centre at Quitol to create an ecosystem where innovators can design, test, and operate drones within a controlled sandbox environment.
On the digital inclusion front, Shri Khaunte stated that under the scheme Providing Free Laptops to Meritorious Students Belonging to ST & SC Communities, laptops are distributed across Talukas based on academic merit. Additionally, the scheme Empowering ST & SC Communities Using ICT Tools enables students and citizens to access free, certified IT training at IT Knowledge Centres (ITKCs) across the State. A proposal is also in place to provide free laptops to students from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) who have secured admission to engineering colleges in Goa.
These initiatives are part of the Government’s broader strategy to establish Goa as a digitally connected, innovation-driven, and inclusive state.
