Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on Friday last week, has launched the "Goa Broadband Network" (GBBN) amidst trust and worry about the project’s future.

Formerly called as "Goa Net", the Broadband Network project aspires at setting up a state that is “enabled by IT to be efficient and accountable with a global thinking approach".

GBBN will offer privileges to citizens, which comprise the information about education, healthcare, farming, well-being, amusement, IP telephony, and video conferencing.

It will also provide e-governance as well as B2C (business-to-citizen) services.

The network will also be introduced to around 280 governmental offices including municipalities, the collectorate, and the state secretariat to bring in greater efficiency,

Mr. Singh praised the project, and said that it is a landmark in the use of advanced telecommunications and IT for bettering community services and the overall quality of life.

He also appraised the private-public affiliation and called it a 'viable business model'.

“Investment in knowledge and in knowledge tools is therefore going to be the key success factor for individuals or regions or nations. I am happy that a state like Goa has realised the significance of this. The Goa Broadband Network is a first step in positioning your state for the future,” Mr. Singh added.

“As the program scales up from the 10 Citizen Service Centres today to over 200 by the end of next year, it will generate substantial revenues which will meet a major portion of the costs,” he also said.