New Delhi, Sep 29 (UNI) India has taken a decisive leap toward telecom self-reliance with the launch of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)’s first fully indigenous 4G (5G-ready) network and the commissioning of nearly 98,000 Swadeshi 4G towers, all powered by homegrown technology.
BSNL’s Indigenous 4G stack ensures immediate connectivity while enabling seamless upgrades, nurturing domestic talent, and strengthening supply chains.
The core network has been developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) with Tejas Networks’ Radio Access Network and integration handled by TCS—marking a major technological breakthrough and advancing the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, a statement said.
At the heart of this achievement lies 4G, the broadband mobile communication standard that succeeds 3G and precedes 5G.
It harnesses advanced technologies such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE), Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).
OFDM, a key component, is a digital communication technique that transmits data by dividing a broadband channel into multiple narrowband, parallel subcarriers designed to be mathematically independent.
This indigenous 4G stack, built to be 5G-ready, offers end-to-end solutions with a software-first, cloud-native approach and is future-proof, allowing upgrades without replacing large parts of the deployed infrastructure.
By developing this advanced stack, India joins a select group of just five nations capable of launching fully homegrown 4G services, reinforcing the spirit of Swadeshi.
The impact of this indigenous 4G stack is wide-ranging:- it provides strategic autonomy and digital sovereignty, generates employment, strengthens supply-chain management, meets domestic demand with global potential, accelerates development through local capability, expands scale and reach, embodies the Swadeshi principle, and aids financial turnaround while building citizen trust.
India’s momentum goes beyond 4G. Since the launch of 5G services on October 1, 2022, the country has seen one of the fastest rollouts worldwide.
In just eight months, 5G achieved remarkable scale with 2,00,000 sites installed across 700 districts.
High-speed coverage now extends to all 28 states and eight union Territories, with 4.86 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) in place as of June 30, 2025. Today, most districts enjoy 5G services.
A ‘Base Transceiver Station (BTSs)’ also called a radio base station (RBS) or nodeB, is a fixed radio component in a mobile network that serves as the physical interface between mobile devices and cellular network, enabling communication within a defined ‘cell.’
Steps taken by the government towards bolstering 5G connectivity across the country can assist sectors like Agriculture (farming and smart agriculture with IoT sensors, drones, and AI), healthcare (telemedicine, remote diagnostics, and real-time health monitoring), education ( virtual classrooms and immersive augmented/ virtual reality), and smart cities (intelligent traffic management and energy-efficient infrastructure).
Moreover, it has also had a drastic impact on sectors like Manufacturing & Industry 4.0, Automotive & Transport, and Entertainment & Media.
Looking ahead, India is already preparing for the 6G era. 6G technology is in development and expected by 2030.
On March 23, 2023, India released its ‘Bharat 6G Vision’ document, outlining a plan to become a frontline contributor to the design, development, and deployment of 6G technology by that year.
The vision emphasizes affordability, sustainability, and ubiquity (universality).
To support this goal, the government launched the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) Scheme on October 1, 2022, to fund R&D and innovation in telecom, including 6G.
This initiative fosters collaboration among academia, start-ups, MSMEs, research institutes, and industry.
By July 31, 2025, it had approved 104 projects worth Rs275.88 crore.
Robust policymaking continues to yield results.
According to the State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025 report (Network coverage and Infrastructure), most global network investment is now focused on 5G, which has reached more than half of the world’s population (54 percent or 4.4 billion people) with an additional 700 million people gaining coverage in 2024.
India alone drove more than half of that growth, achieving just over 80 percent population coverage for 5G. Moreover, during 2024 monthly 5G traffic in the country increased threefold and now accounts for 36pc of India’s total mobile traffic, compared to 15pc in 2023.
The rollout of the indigenous 4G stack stands as a landmark moment in India’s telecom sector, blending technology, self-reliance, and inclusive growth. It brings millions online, creates jobs, and showcases the nation’s ability to design and deploy world-class telecom solutions.
With its future-ready, 5G-capable architecture and export potential, this initiative strengthens India’s position as a global digital powerhouse and contributes to the realization of the dream of Viksit Bharat 2047.
