2025 – The Year Private 5G Redefines Business Success

Enterprises are fully aware of the need to tap into high-speed, high-coverage 5G to avoid being left behind. But there will be a shift this year in which attention and investment turns to Private 5G. With sales set to reach $6 billion globally in 2027, according to recent data from market research firm SNS Telecom & IT, the Private 5G market is showing steady momentum. These projections come after firm Analysys Mason, in early 2024, predicted enterprises will spend as much as $9 billion on private 5G by 2030.   

Many decision-makers already realise the benefits of private 5G — deterministic low latency, more mobility, better coverage, and inherent security. Moreover, private 5G deployments are extending beyond early adopter sectors, such as industrial and warehousing, to other industries like sports and media. This year will mark a definitive uptick in 5G investments, deployments, and use cases across the world.  

Transforming industries through private 5G 

There are many examples of private cellular network (PCN) deployments in industrial environments, including manufacturing, warehouse/logistics, ports, airports, mining, energy, etc. Organisations in these sectors are using private 5G to uplevel their automation efforts, provide visibility into operations, and enhance their safety measures. In turn, they rely on the PCN to ensure constant communication and data sharing for automated devices – such as automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) – and IoT devices such as environmental monitoring sensors or predictive maintenance tools that connect workers with scanners or other handheld devices. PCNs also support different types of remotely operated equipment. As these organisations lean more on private 5G this year, they’ll continue to experience the technical advantages that led them to private 5G in the first place.   

The success in industrial verticals will lend itself to increased private 5G implementation in non-industrial settings. For example, we will see more sports and media companies leverage private networks for broadcasting and to facilitate the sharing of real-time analytics during broadcasts. The NFL is already using private networks to facilitate in-game communications within coaching staff.   

Retail companies and higher education institutions will also leverage private 5G deployments this year. Retail stores will look to private networks to power important customer services such as personalised shopping experiences. Higher education institutions will use private networks to provide dedicated connectivity for security cameras, event point-of-sale systems, and much more.  

Extending public coverage via a neutral host  

As enterprises look to provide both their employees and customers with constant connectivity and coverage this year, they will no longer be boxed into the traditional distributed antenna system (DAS). In fact, they’ll begin to leverage an option known in some circles as a “DAS Killer” — a flexible modern neutral host solution. This neutral host solution will grow in popularity as it provides a less complex architecture than traditional DAS systems. This makes them easier to deploy and less costly from both a capital and operational expenditure perspective. In this architecture, carrier-approved radios can be shared by multiple operators, making it easier to extend public carrier wall-to-wall coverage.   

Those who use these neutral host solutions will start leveraging the power of 5G, realising the incremental control, quality of service, and security benefits of private 5G. In fact, some solutions can support neutral hosts and private 5G without additional infrastructure. This will open the door for organisations across multiple industries to extend coverage while leveraging a secure private network and saving costs.   

Scaling Private 5G 

As private 5G deployments increase, enterprises will also increase the number and type of devices they deploy on private 5G networks. This includes mobile devices, IoT devices, and other operational technology (OT) equipment. We saw momentum in this direction last year, as certain manufacturers, such as Apple, announced that some of their eSIM phones and tablets would have private network compatibility. In other sectors, items such as bar code scanners and production line tools have already adopted 5G to support OT operations.  

 If organisations leverage eSIM devices in particular — and combine them with compatible private 5G solutions — they’ll experience benefits in both device onboarding and configuration. Instead of having to physically enter a SIM card in each device, they’ll be able to onboard and configure 1,000s of devices at once. This isn’t new, per se, but it is extremely important as the industry has passed the point where deployments only supported tens or hundreds of devices. Now, enterprises are using their private networks to support thousands of devices, and they will greatly benefit from an easy way to onboard, secure, and manage those devices.  

The Key Driver of Business Success – Private 5G 

In the early days of private cellular networks, it was common for organisations to want proof of concept — something to show this technology really worked. However, 2024 saw multiple enterprises skip this step, believe in the technology, and go right to commercial and/or multi-site deployments. The industry is showing that the proof now lies in the deployments that are already benefiting the enterprise. This year, as new verticals implement private 5G, neutral host makes its mark on the industry, and more devices leverage private networks, private 5G will continue to prove its worth as a key factor in business success.