Jharsuguda, 27 Sept

In a major boost to tele-communication infrastructure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated BSNL's 'Swadeshi' 4G stack in Odisha, marking India's entry into a coveted league of nations that manufacture telecom equipment.

He also unveiled development projects valued at more than Rs 60,000 crore in other  sectors such as railways and higher education, from Odisha's Jharsuguda.

On the occasion of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s silver jubilee, the PM also commissioned more than 97,500 mobile 4G towers, including 92,600 4G technology sites of the telecom service provider.

These towers have been built at a cost of around Rs 37,000 crore with 'swadeshi' (indigenous) technology.

The launch of the ‘Swadeshi’ 4G stack marked India's entry into a league of nations such as Denmark, Sweden, South Korea, and China, which manufacture homegrown telecom equipment.

The India-made network is cloud-based, future-ready and can upgrade seamlessly to 5G, an official said.

The rollout of the 'swadeshi' 4G network is a transformative step in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of a Digital India, bridging the digital divide and empowering rural communities, while paving the way for BSNL’s 5G upgrade and integration, an official statement said.

Over 26,700 unconnected villages, including 2,472 of Odisha, in remote, border and left-wing extremism-affected areas will receive connection with this launch. This will serve over 20 lakh new subscribers, the statement said.

These towers are solar-powered, making them India’s largest cluster of green telecom sites and a step forward in sustainable infrastructure.

This apart, the Prime Minister also unveiled India's 100 per cent 4G saturation network through digital Bharat Nidhi, where 29,000 to 30,000 villages are connected in a mission-mode project.

PM Modi flags off Amrit Bharat train

Modi laid foundation stones for the expansion of eight IITs across the country, which will create capacity for 10,000 new students over the next four years.

He flagged off the Amrit Bharat Express connecting Berhampur with Udhna in Gujarat’s Surat district.

Modi dedicated to the nation the doubling of the 34-km Koraput–Baiguda rail line and the 82-km Manabar–Koraput–Gorapur section, built at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore. He inaugurated a 5 km flyover in Sambalpur City, built at a cost of Rs 273 crore.

This was the Prime Minister's sixth visit to Odisha in 15 months since the BJP came to power in the state in June 2024.

Modi's visit to Jharsuguda comes after a gap of seven years. He had come to the town on September 22, 2018, to inaugurate Odisha's second commercial airport.