Can Ericsson’s Slew of New Partnerships Propel the Company to the Top of the Private 5G Market?

In June 2026, Ericsson announced that it had executed an agreement with Verizon Business to extend Ericsson Private 5G to its international customers. Essentially, this means that Multinational Companies (MNCs) in the United States that have deployed Ericsson Private 5G through Verizon Business are now able to scale and extend these network capabilities to their international campuses. This makes strategic sense, as it enables MNCs that have successfully deployed Private 5G networks in the United States to easily replicate these setups at their overseas sites.

This statement also follows earlier announcements by Ericsson in February 2026 about its partnership with NTT DATA to deliver a turn-key Private 5G and physical Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution worldwide. For this arrangement, NTT DATA not only acts as a System Integrator (SI) for the Network Equipment Vendor (NEV) but also provides full-stack enterprise network services to support edge AI and physical AI applications. Other notable recent agreements that Ericsson has executed include one with Future Technologies—where AI-based applications are expected to feature prominently—and another with Westcon-Comstor, which would see the distributor add Ericsson Private 5G to its product portfolio.

From the various partnership announcements to the continuing release of new Private 5G products, Ericsson is making it clear that Private 5G remains a key strategic objective for the company.

As enterprises look to implement advanced edge AI and physical AI use cases (where high mobility is needed), enhanced reliability and low latency become critical for wireless network deployments—areas where private 5G networks excel. With AI as a key driving force—as evidenced by the partnerships mentioned above—ABI Research forecasts that the Total Addressable Market (TAM) for private cellular networks will continue to grow to US$56.6 billion by 2031, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 28.8% between 2026 and 2031, driven by the key industry verticals of energy generation, manufacturing, logistics, and public services/defense.

As the private 5G networks market moves from the early-adopter phase to the early-majority stage, competition has intensified. Beyond basic connectivity, solution vendors are looking to introduce new capabilities to establish their respective niches and capture market share in this space. Some of these features include:

• Unified and Converged Connectivity: To meet enterprises’ requirements for redundancy and no downtimes, NEVs are introducing converged solutions that support a mixture of access technologies, such as 5G, satellite, and fiber, to assure network resiliency for their customers via an integrated platform. For example, Ericsson’s NetCloud Manager enables unified management of wireless Wide Area Network (WAN), private network, and satellite connectivity on a single platform. Telcos are also jumping onto the idea, with T-Mobile launching its SuperBroadband enterprise service, which combines 5G and satellite connectivity under a single service plan.
• Neutral Host with Private 5G: To cater to enterprises that need both private and public network coverage (e.g., hospitals, manufacturing facilities, logistics hubs, etc.), there is increased interest in deploying hybrid networks via Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) architectures. With this deployment mode, sensitive data can be routed through the private network. At the same time, general users (and even employees) can continue using their existing mobile services with their respective telcos on the public network.
• Application-Specific Solutions: NEVs are also looking to launch application-specific private network solutions that are aimed at addressing specific use cases and pain points. For example, ZTE launched its “EasyOn 5G-A-RobotNet” private network solution, which utilizes a unified “connectivity + computing” architecture tailored for robotic applications in August 2025. As highlighted above, Ericsson’s partnership with NTT DATA also enables the companies to offer an End-to-End (E2E) private network solution that supports edge and physical AI applications.

Ericsson’s focus on developing its enterprise connectivity business is not new, and this sits well within its overall enterprise strategy. Beyond its private 5G network offering, the company also offers an End-to-End (E2E) range of enterprise 5G products, from 5G-enabled end-user devices (in collaboration with Microsoft), to 5G-enabled routers and adapters (see the newly released Ericsson Cradlepoint W2255), to indoor 5G coverage solutions (see Ericsson Radio Dot), to Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solutions. In particular, the gel holding these services in place can be argued to be Ericsson’s NetCloud Manager, which allows enterprises to have greater control over their Wireless WANs (WWANs), network security, and private 5G networks under a unified platform. Recently, Ericsson also announced the integration of Agentic AI capabilities in its NetCloud platform to simplify deployments and network management. With investments in public mobile infrastructure expected to remain flat or even decline over the next few years, Ericsson’s private 5G strategy to expand partnerships with the various System Integrators (SIs) makes commercial sense as it allows the NEV to grab market share quickly. It also positions the company well to capitalize on the impending edge and physical AI wave by leveraging third-party vendors’ expertise.

However, working with channel partners also introduces new risk factors. For example, some partners may deploy Ericsson Private 5G only for basic connectivity functions and miss out on bringing advanced 5G capabilities, such as network slicing, to end users. Based on anecdotal evidence, ABI Research understands that many private network deployments currently are only using 5G for basic connectivity applications. Additionally, Ericsson will not have full control over network deployment, and this may lead to poor installations and the overall failure of the private network. This is in contrast to network vendors that can provide full-stack services. Ultimately, these factors could dilute the value of Ericsson’s private 5G solution and lead to customer turnover.

Considering a highly competitive market, the full value of its private 5G solution must be clearly communicated to the end market. Some recommendations that Ericsson, and other network vendors, in general, need to consider are as follows:

• Communicate the full capabilities of its private 5G solution to channel partners and ensure that partners are trained in how to deploy the various features (e.g., network slicing) appropriately.
• Develop blueprint deployments and applications that can be easily replicable by channel partners.
• Communicate closely with channel partners to understand and address pain points.
• Jointly innovate with channel partners to co-develop new features/use cases or optimize the network to support new applications.