In short: A traditional capex private 5G build in the UK ranges from £50,000 for a single-site pilot to £500,000+ for a large industrial deployment. A managed-service approach like Aerix removes the capex entirely, replacing it with a monthly subscription that starts at £40 for an end-customer broadband router and scales from a few hundred pounds a month for a small site.
Key Takeaways
- There is no single price — costs depend on coverage area, device count, spectrum, integration, and how you buy
- Capex private 5G is expensive up-front but can be cheap per-year-of-use if you keep the network for 7+ years
- Managed-service private 5G has no capex and is cheaper for smaller sites or anyone who doesn't want to own kit
In a nutshell
What You're Actually Paying For
Whether you go capex or managed-service, the cost of a private 5G network breaks into seven things:
- Site survey and design — RF planning, backhaul assessment, coverage modelling
- Spectrum — Ofcom Shared Access Licence fees (modest, but a real line item)
- Radio equipment (RAN) — the cells themselves, and the supporting cabling and brackets
- 5G core — software (and sometimes hardware) that runs the network
- Devices and SIMs — routers (CPE), modems, SIM provisioning
- Backhaul — fibre, microwave, or satellite from the radios back to the internet
- Operations — monitoring, maintenance, support, upgrades, and someone to call when it breaks
The total cost depends on how many of these you're buying, who you're buying them from, and what scale you need.
Traditional Capex Build: The Numbers
For a UK private 5G network bought the traditional way (you specify, you procure, you deploy via a systems integrator, you run it):
| Site type | Indicative total cost |
|---|---|
| Pilot / proof-of-concept (single radio, 50 devices) | £50,000 – £100,000 |
| Small site (1–3 radios, ~100 devices, e.g. small factory) | £100,000 – £250,000 |
| Medium site (5–15 radios, multi-building, ~500 devices) | £250,000 – £500,000 |
| Large industrial site (20+ radios, ~1,000 devices, port or large factory) | £500,000 – £2,000,000+ |
Plus annual operating costs of typically 15–25% of capex per year for support, software licences, spectrum, and operations.
These numbers come from public case studies (5GIR programme reports, vendor RFP responses) and our own pre-quotes. They vary a lot. A bespoke industrial deployment with custom integration to SCADA systems will sit at the top of the range; a clean-sheet office or warehouse deployment at the bottom.
Where the Money Goes
In a typical capex build, the rough split looks like:
- Equipment (RAN + core + backhaul kit): 35–50%
- Professional services (design, install, integration): 25–40%
- Devices and SIMs: 5–15%
- Spectrum, regulatory, planning: 1–5%
- Year-one support and operations: 10–15%
The two biggest line items — equipment and professional services — are also where there's the most variance. A site that needs hardened outdoor radios and a custom integration with existing IT systems will spend significantly more on both than a clean office deployment.
Managed-Service Pricing (How Aerix Bills)
The managed-service model replaces capex with a monthly subscription. The provider owns the kit and bills you for the service.
For Aerix specifically, the pricing pattern is:
End-customer broadband (a router on a private 5G network):
- From £40/month for unlimited broadband
- One-off router fee from £100 (indoor) or £200 (outdoor)
- Free professional installation
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- No minimum contract
Site-level managed networks (a private network you own commercially but Aerix builds and runs):
- Pricing scales with site size and device count
- Typical small/medium sites: £500 – £5,000 per month all-in
- Includes design, install, spectrum, kit, monitoring, maintenance, support
- 12-month rolling commitment, longer terms unlock better pricing
Multi-site / multi-tenant (e.g. a holiday park reselling broadband to guests):
- Per-end-customer billing
- Aerix handles the network, partner handles the customer relationship
- Revenue share model
Capex vs Managed Service: When Each Wins
Capex makes sense if:
- You have a defined large-scale deployment (industrial site, port, airport)
- You want to depreciate over 7–10 years
- You have in-house RF / IT capability or a long-term integrator relationship
- The deployment is unique enough that off-the-shelf managed service won't fit
Managed service makes sense if:
- You don't want to be in the network operations business
- You want predictable monthly costs, not a capex spike
- Your site is small to mid-sized
- You'd rather scale up or down than write off equipment
- You want fast deployment (weeks vs months)
- You don't have telecoms expertise on staff
For most of the customers we talk to — communities, holiday parks, farms, smaller ports, councils, care providers, mid-market businesses — managed service is the right answer almost every time. The capex maths only works when you're spreading kit costs across many years and many devices, and even then it requires you to genuinely run the network well, which is its own ongoing cost.
The Hidden Costs People Forget
Whichever model you pick, watch for these:
- Spectrum licensing — modest (~£100–£1,000/year per band per area) but it's a real obligation
- Backhaul — getting fibre to a rural radio site can cost £10,000–£100,000 if civils are needed
- Devices — every connected thing needs a SIM and either a router or an embedded modem
- Software updates — equipment vendors charge annual support and software fees
- Refresh cycles — radios and core software are typically refreshed every 5–7 years
- People — even a well-managed network needs someone who knows what to do when alarms fire
Managed service rolls all of these into the monthly fee. Capex deployments need to budget for them line by line.
How to Get a Real Number
A real cost estimate needs:
- Site location and size — a sketch of where coverage is needed
- Device count — how many SIMs / connected things, of what types
- Use cases — broadband only? Push-to-talk? Video? Sensors? Each has different bandwidth and latency profiles
- Backhaul situation — is fibre available? Or microwave? Or satellite?
- Operating model preference — capex vs managed service
With those five things we can give a credible monthly or capex range within a couple of days. With more detail (planning constraints, integration needs, redundancy requirements), we can quote precisely.
If you're scoping a private 5G project, get in touch and we'll give you an honest indicative cost — including comparison against capex and other managed providers. Or see our Private 5G as a Service page for the managed-service model in detail.