Enterprise Private 5G
What the term actually buys you, what it costs, and an honest account of when you need it.
Enterprise private 5G is not a different technology. The radios, the standalone 5G core, the SIMs and the Ofcom Shared Access spectrum are the same ones behind a network serving a farm or a holiday park. What the word enterprise buys is the wrapper: a contractual service level, a redundant design, integration with the systems already running the site, a security review that satisfies your own risk function, and a named person to escalate to.
Those things are worth paying for on some sites and are pure cost on others. The purpose of this page is to be straight about which is which, because the assumption that a serious organisation must buy the enterprise version is what puts private 5G out of reach for a great many sites that would benefit from it.
Five things that make a network enterprise-grade
None of them are radio features. All of them cost money.
A contractual service level
An availability figure with money attached to it, along with agreed response and restoration times. This is the single largest difference between an enterprise contract and a standard one, and it is priced accordingly.
Redundancy by design
Dual backhaul, a resilient core, and overlapping radio coverage so that no one failure takes the site off the air. Roughly doubles the equipment count in the parts of the site where it is applied.
Integration with existing systems
Identity, network access control, monitoring, ticketing and the operational systems already running the site. This is bespoke work on every deployment and it is usually the largest professional-services line in the quote.
Security assurance
SIM-based authentication is a genuine step up on a Wi-Fi pre-shared key, but the assurance work is the documentation: traffic isolation, segmentation from corporate IT, penetration testing, and a review that satisfies your own security function.
Named support and governance
A service manager, a reporting cadence, and a path to escalate. Worth real money on a site where an outage stops production; worth very little on a site where it stops a spreadsheet.
When to pay for it, and when not to
The honest test is what happens on the worst day. If the network carries automated plant, a baggage system, a crane, or anything where an hour of downtime has a five-figure cost, buy the redundancy and buy the service level. The premium is small next to the exposure, and the twelve-month procurement is a reasonable price for getting it right.
If the network carries site connectivity, cameras, tablets, card payments and staff communications, the calculation inverts. A single well-sited radio, a cloud core and a provider who answers the phone will deliver a service that is materially better than the Wi-Fi it replaces, at a fraction of the cost, in weeks rather than quarters. Paying enterprise prices for that is paying for assurance you will never draw on.
Some would say there is no middle ground, and that a network is either enterprise-grade or a toy. We do not accept that. The Llanthony Valley network took a community in the Brecon Beacons from 2 Mbps to 5G, and it is monitored, supported and maintained to a standard that would be recognisable to any IT manager. What it does not carry is a bespoke integration programme and a contractual availability figure, because nothing on that site needs one.
Ultimately however, the interesting question is not whether a network is enterprise-grade but which parts of the enterprise wrapper your particular site actually draws on. We are happy to work through that with you before anyone writes a specification.
Where we fit
We are a UK managed service provider. We design, build, licence, install, monitor and support private 5G networks, and we bill monthly rather than asking for capex. That makes us a good fit for mid-market organisations and a poor fit for the largest industrial programmes, which is a deliberate choice rather than a limitation we are hiding.
- Managed end to end, so no telecoms expertise is needed on your team
- Ofcom Shared Access spectrum handled as part of the service
- Transparent published pricing from £35 a month, no minimum contract
- Networks live in weeks rather than quarters
- Monitoring and support on every network we run, whatever its size
Common questions
What is enterprise private 5G?
Enterprise private 5G is a dedicated cellular network built for a single organisation, delivered with the assurances a large business procurement process expects: a contractual service level, redundancy in the core and the backhaul, integration with existing identity and IT systems, formal security review, and a named support arrangement. The radio technology is the same one a small community network uses. What differs is the wrapper around it.
How much does enterprise private 5G cost in the UK?
Bought through a vendor and integrator or from a mobile operator, a single-site enterprise deployment typically starts around £50,000 and runs to £500,000 and beyond for a large industrial site, with a procurement cycle measured in quarters rather than weeks. A managed service removes the capex and bills monthly instead, starting from £35 a month for a connected site.
Do I need an enterprise-grade private 5G network?
It depends on what the network carries. If it underpins production, safety systems or automated plant where an hour of downtime has a five-figure cost, then yes: pay for redundancy and a contractual service level. If it carries site connectivity, cameras, tablets, payments and staff comms, an enterprise wrapper is often expense without benefit. The honest test is what happens on the worst day, not the average one.
Who sells enterprise private 5G in the UK?
Four groups: global equipment vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson and Mavenir, usually via a systems integrator; UK systems integrators including BT, Capgemini and Atos; the mobile operators, being BT/EE, Vodafone Business, Virgin Media O2 and Three Business; and UK managed service providers. We set out the differences between them, and where we sit, on our guide to UK private 5G providers.
Can a smaller organisation get enterprise-grade capability without the enterprise price?
In large part, yes. Standalone 5G, Ofcom Shared Access spectrum and a cloud or on-premise core are available to any organisation, not only to the ones with a procurement department. What a smaller organisation typically cannot justify is the bespoke integration work and the fully redundant design. Most of the capability is available at mid-market prices; a minority of it genuinely is not.
Does Aerix serve enterprise customers?
We do, though we are deliberately not built for the largest of them. Our work sits with organisations that need a dedicated, well-run network without a twelve-month procurement: mid-sized manufacturers, ports, airports, farms, care providers, councils and venues. If your requirement genuinely calls for a bespoke, fully redundant, multi-site enterprise build, we will say so and point you at the people who do that well.
Been quoted six figures?
Tell us what the network has to carry. We will tell you which parts of that quote your site genuinely needs, and if the answer is all of them, we will say so.