A significant upgrade to cellular infrastructure in Yehuda and Shomron officially began Thursday with the inauguration of the first state-funded communications tower in Kedumim, marking the start of a broad initiative aimed at improving connectivity and strengthening personal security across the region.

The tower was dedicated in a ceremony held in the Mitzpe Yishai neighborhood, attended by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, Finance Minister and Minister within the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich, and local council head Uziel Vatik.

The event, which took place just one day after Israel’s 78th Independence Day celebrations, also highlighted the launch of a major housing development project, with plans for 1,400 new residential units in the nearby Nachalat Esther neighborhood. The move is expected to further establish Kedumim as a central hub in the Shomron. This tower is the first to be activated under a broader government tender led by the Communications Authority in the Civil Administration.

The newly inaugurated site joins dozens of others constructed over the past three years, with many more planned throughout Yehuda and Shomron in the coming year.

In the first phase of the project, 22 towers are being built. The Kedumim tower is the first to become operational, while additional sites in Bruchin, Kedar, the Almog Junction area, and Mitzpe Yericho are awaiting connection to electricity. A second phase, expected to be announced soon, will include 27 additional towers, bringing the total to 49 in the initial rollout.

Communications Minister Karhi emphasized the broader significance of the project, stating: “From the heart of the Shomron in Kedumim, to all of Yehuda and Shomron. The tower we are inaugurating today as a cornerstone for Kedumim, the great city, is the opening shot for dozens of additional cellular sites that will be established here, G-d willing, over the coming year in an unprecedented national project, alongside dozens we have already built across Yehuda and Shomron. Three years ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu, at my request, declared communications infrastructure in Yehuda and Shomron a national project and a security necessity. Today we are bringing that vision into reality on the ground. Sovereignty — in practice.”

{Matzav.com}