The private 5G vendor market spans carrier-grade incumbents, enterprise-focused specialists, and open-source software cores. Each occupies a different position on the cost-versus-capability curve. This guide is vendor-neutral — we do not resell any platform. The goal is to help you understand the landscape and evaluate vendors against your actual requirements rather than a sales pitch.
A private 5G deployment requires three categories of equipment and software. Some vendors provide all three (full-stack); others specialize in one layer.
| Layer | What It Is | Key Vendors |
|---|---|---|
| RAN (Radio Access Network) | gNBs, small cells, macro units, antennas, radio units | Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Baicells, Airspan, Mavenir |
| 5G Core (5GC) | Software core — AMF, SMF, UPF, UDM, etc. | Nokia, Ericsson, Athonet (HPE), Druid, Open5GS, Magma, free5GC |
| Orchestration / Platform | Management, provisioning, monitoring, slicing config | Celona, Nokia DAC, Ericsson Private 5G, Betacom |
| Devices / CPE | Industrial routers, modules, SIMs, gateways | Cradlepoint, Sierra Wireless, Peplink, Quectel, Telit |
A full-stack vendor (Celona, Nokia DAC, Ericsson Private 5G) provides RAN, core, and orchestration as one integrated product — simplest to deploy and support. A disaggregated approach (e.g., Baicells RAN + Athonet core + your own orchestration) can reduce cost and avoid lock-in but requires significantly more integration expertise. For most industrial operators without an in-house RF/telecom team, full-stack is the lower-risk path.
Honest profiles of the major private 5G vendors, including where each fits best and where the trade-offs are. Pricing tiers are relative indicators, not quotes.
Purpose-built for enterprise and industrial private wireless, Celona offers an integrated RAN + core + cloud orchestration platform. Its "5G LAN" approach is designed to make private cellular feel like deploying enterprise WiFi — abstracting away telecom complexity. Strong fit for mid-market manufacturing, warehousing, healthcare, and education campuses.
Nokia's DAC is one of the most widely deployed private wireless platforms globally, with strong references in mining, ports, utilities, and manufacturing. Broad frequency band support including sub-1GHz for large outdoor coverage. The MX Industrial Edge adds on-premises edge compute for OT applications.
Ericsson brings carrier-grade engineering to private networks, with the most complete 3GPP feature implementation, including the strongest URLLC and network slicing capabilities. Typically deployed at larger industrial scale — major mining operations, large ports, automotive manufacturing. The platform that most directly inherits public-network-grade reliability engineering.
Now part of HPE, Athonet specializes in the software core, running on commercial off-the-shelf hardware and integrating with multiple RAN vendors. Ideal for organizations that want to decouple their core from their RAN procurement, or that have specific hardware preferences. The HPE acquisition adds enterprise hardware and support backing.
Samsung has built a strong private network business on the back of its 5G radio hardware engineering. Competitive pricing relative to Nokia/Ericsson, with solid performance in manufacturing and enterprise campus environments. Growing global industrial deployment footprint.
Baicells offers lower-cost RAN hardware, historically CBRS-focused. A practical choice for cost-sensitive deployments, initial pilots, or where carrier-grade feature completeness is not required. Often paired with a third-party core (Druid, Athonet, open-source) in a disaggregated architecture.
Open-source 5G core implementations eliminate software licensing cost entirely. Open5GS and free5GC are popular for research, pilots, and deployments by organizations with in-house telecom engineering. Magma (originally Meta, now Linux Foundation) targets larger-scale access networks. These are powerful but require genuine RF/core engineering capability to deploy and operate reliably.
The right vendor is the one that matches your specific requirements — not the one with the strongest brand or the lowest price. Evaluate against these criteria.
| Evaluation Criterion | Questions to Ask |
|---|---|
| Canadian band support | Does the hardware support the spectrum band you can actually license in Canada (3500MHz, sub-1GHz)? Is it ISED-certified? |
| Spectrum access model | Does the vendor support the spectrum access pathway available to you (carrier partnership, ISED local license)? |
| Data sovereignty | Where does the control plane and user plane run? Can the UPF be fully on-premises for OT data? |
| Feature requirements | Do you need URLLC, slicing, TSN? Verify the specific 3GPP release features are implemented, not just "5G-capable." |
| Coverage type | Indoor small cells, outdoor macro, or both? Does the vendor's hardware match your environment? |
| Support and local presence | Is there Canadian support, or a local integration partner? What is the SLA on hardware failures? |
| Device ecosystem | Are the industrial devices you need (routers, modules) certified to work with this network? |
| OT integration | Can the vendor demonstrate integration with your SCADA/OT systems and protocols? |
| Total cost of ownership | CapEx + multi-year OpEx, including support, licensing, and spectrum fees — not just hardware list price. |
| Scalability | Can the platform grow from a pilot to a multi-site deployment without re-architecting? |
Every vendor's sales engineer will tell you their platform is the right fit. They are not lying — they are scoping the problem to fit their product. A vendor-neutral site assessment scopes the problem to fit your operation, then matches vendors to requirements rather than the reverse.
We do not resell any private 5G platform. Our role is to define your requirements rigorously — coverage, use cases, spectrum, sovereignty, budget — and help you run a fair vendor evaluation against them. The result is a deployment that fits your operation, not a vendor's quarterly target.
Technical reference pages across the Private5G.ca library.
We don't resell hardware. A site assessment defines your requirements and helps you run a fair, vendor-neutral evaluation — so you buy what your operation needs.