New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil India’s first fully indigenous 4G stack on Saturday, marking a significant moment in the country’s telecom journey. The launch, set to take place at Jharsuguda in Odisha on September 27, will also include the commissioning of nearly 98,000 mobile 4G towers across India.
Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced the plan at a press conference on Friday, calling it a new era for Indian telecom. The 4G network has been designed with a cloud-based, software-driven architecture that can seamlessly upgrade to 5G. According to the minister, “no part of India will be left untouched” as these towers expand coverage to millions.
India connects with BSNL Swadeshi 4G Network!
Today at BSNL HQ, Union Minister of Communications Shri @JM_Scindia addressed a press meet alongside Secretary (T) Shri @neerajmittalias, CMD Shri @CMDBSNL, and Director (CM) Shri Sandeep Govil, celebrating BSNL’s 25 years of… pic.twitter.com/KsDRZjqdHk
— BSNL India (@BSNLCorporate) September 26, 2025
India joins the club of 4G tech manufacturers
Scindia noted that India now becomes the fifth country to manufacture its own telecom equipment, joining Denmark, Sweden, South Korea and China. The stack combines a Radio Access Network built by Tejas Networks, a core network developed by C-DOT, and integration work done by Tata Consultancy Services. These have already been deployed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), serving more than 22 million customers.
“Today is an important day heralding, in 24 hours, the emergence of India on the global telecom footprint, not only as a service provider to 1.2 billion customers… but also tomorrow will be the day when the world will awake to India having arrived not only as a service provider, but as a manufacturer and an equipment provider of full 4G stack,” Scindia said.
Expanding rural reach through Digital Bharat Nidhi
The project is being supported by the Digital Bharat Nidhi fund, which has enabled over 14,000 towers under the 4G saturation project. In total, around 29,000 villages have been connected, many in border and left-wing extremism affected regions. These towers are expected to benefit students, farmers, soldiers and entrepreneurs by improving access to online education, market prices, healthcare and digital services.
Scindia explained, “It means that students in Bihar will now have seamless access to world-class online education. Farmers in Punjab will receive real-time updates on Mandi prices. Soldiers stationed in Kashmir will remain connected with their loved ones. Entrepreneurs across the North East will be empowered with access to international expertise and funding.”
BSNL’s silver jubilee milestone
The timing of the launch comes just ahead of BSNL’s 25th anniversary, a milestone for the state-run operator. Over 92,600 of its mobile sites are already running on indigenised 4G technology that can move to 5G when required. In addition, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel have deployed more than 4,700 mobile towers, supplementing the network’s reach.
Secretary Telecom Dr Neeraj Mittal traced the journey of India’s telecom stack, noting how early doubts gave way to a successful deployment of towers nationwide. He credited India’s youth, industry collaboration, and constant monitoring for achieving self-reliance in telecom.
A step into global telecom leadership
With this rollout, India is not only providing affordable telecom services to its citizens but also positioning itself as a global hub for telecom equipment manufacturing. Scindia said the effort was “pushed, pioneered and catalysed by the Prime Minister” as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision.
The Prime Minister is expected to dedicate the achievement to the nation on Saturday, calling it both a technological and symbolic milestone. For India’s telecom industry, it could mark the beginning of a new phase where the country shifts from being a large consumer of digital services to a global supplier of telecom technology.