Spectrum, Substations, and Starting Grids: Private Network Insights, October 2026

Private Network Insights October 2026: regulators across the Americas, Europe and Asia opened dedicated spectrum to enterprises, ports and mines moved onto their own networks, utilities turned private wireless into a business case, portable private 5G became a category of its own, and banks, pharma plants and schools added reference points well beyond the factory.

At a glance: Private Network Insights October 2026

• Spectrum opened up: Chile allocated 60 MHz at 2.3 GHz for private and industrial networks, Mexico enlarged its planned industrial auction from 40 MHz to 60 MHz across 72 regional areas, Sweden began granting local 3.8 GHz permits, Iceland opened a consultation on 3800 to 4200 MHz, and India granted Mormugao Port a 20-year captive network authorisation.

• Ports and mines moved onto dedicated networks: Penang Port went live on dedicated spectrum, the Port of Klaipėda completed private 5G trials with Santa Monica Networks and LMT Group, and Vi Business will deliver a multi-year managed private network for Hindalco’s Baphlimali bauxite mine.

• Utilities built hybrid private wireless: Heddian is implementing a hybrid network for Avista with Giesecke+Devrient SGP.32 eSIM, a Druid Software core and OneLayer security, while Nokia, Burns & McDonnell and West Monroe set out how utilities should frame the business case.

• Portable private 5G matured: DTM became the first racing championship to adopt Riedel’s Easy5G permanently for onboard cameras across 21 cars, alongside Citymesh at festivals, Teltronic at the ATLAS26 exercise, Wifinity’s managed service and a Brazilian Navy pilot.

• Regulated sectors added reference points: HP Korea and Nable will scale private 5G smart offices for banks, NTT DATA made the case for GMP pharma plants and secured Brownsville‘s city network with Cisco ISE, and Murray City School District extended its CBRS network to campus security.

• Architecture choices widened: Celona combined private 5G with Wi-Fi 7, Canoga Perkins set out FRER for deterministic reliability, PHY Wireless and Ubiik added 3GPP positioning, and ETSI’s DECT NR+ advanced as a non-cellular option.

1. Enterprise spectrum goes global

Regulators in five countries moved in the same month to give enterprises their own mid-band spectrum, the clearest signal yet that private networks no longer depend on a single national model such as CBRS.

• Subtel (Chile): updated technical rules to allocate 60 MHz in the 2.3 GHz band (2300 to 2360 MHz) for private and industrial networks, supporting private 5G and 5.5G and future 6G in confined industrial settings.

• CRT (Mexico): increased its planned industrial spectrum auction from 40 MHz to 60 MHz in the upper 2.3 GHz band, with regional licences across 72 areas for manufacturing, mining, ports, logistics, energy and agribusiness, and is considering a second phase for broader coverage.

• PTS (Sweden): began granting local permits in 3800 to 3920 MHz and 3990 to 4130 MHz for private 5G and other local broadband networks at industrial sites, ports, mines, energy facilities, healthcare and campuses.

• Fjarskiptastofa (Iceland): opened a consultation on allocating 3800 to 4200 MHz for local and private 5G networks for factories, ports and utilities.

• Mormugao Port Authority (India): received a 20-year Captive Non-Public Network authorisation in September 2026, has appointed a consultant for a detailed project report and is running proof-of-concept trials for cargo tracking, automated logistics, drone surveillance and real-time monitoring.

• Idaho National Laboratory (US): researcher Arupjyoti Bhuyan, with the University of Utah, patented an autonomous beam scheduling algorithm that lets multiple private 5G networks share spectrum without a central controller.

• TeckNexus analysis: “Enterprise Spectrum Goes Global: How New Licensing Rules Are Opening Private 5G to More Industries” maps how Latin America is converging on 2.3 GHz and what the new licensing routes mean for buyers.

Why it matters for buyers: spectrum access has been the first question in most private network projects outside the US. With Chile and Mexico converging on 2.3 GHz and Sweden and Iceland opening 3.8 GHz to 4.2 GHz, multinational buyers can start to plan regional rather than country-by-country designs, and equipment choices should reflect the bands now on offer.

→ Match spectrum, architecture and deployment model with the TeckNexus Technology Selector.

2. Ports and mines move onto dedicated networks

Port and mining operators moved from trials to live networks and managed contracts, with named suppliers and clearly scoped applications.

• Penang Port (Malaysia): deployed a private 5G network on dedicated spectrum at its Butterworth facilities, described as the first such implementation by a Malaysian port.

• Port of Klaipėda (Lithuania): completed private 5G trials with Santa Monica Networks and LMT Group, testing an autonomous drone-in-a-box for remote inspections, an unmanned surface vessel for hydrographic surveys and high-speed transfer of large datasets, and completed the design phase for a potential port-wide network.

• Vi Business & Hindalco (India): Vi Business will deliver a multi-year managed private cellular network for Hindalco’s Baphlimali bauxite mine in Odisha, covering spectrum access, core, RAN, managed services and an Integrated Command and Control Centre for worker safety, fleet management and drone and CCTV surveillance.

• Colterlec & Moxa (Australia): are combining private 5G gateways and wireless mesh for mining, with Moxa’s OnCell G3504-5G gateway supporting downlink speeds of up to 4.9 Gbps and AeroMesh supporting more than 100 devices per access point, for autonomous haulage, conveyor monitoring and fleet telemetry.

• Beeline & Yadro (Russia): signed a memorandum of intent to co-develop private LTE and 5G services for mining, oil and gas and metallurgy.

• Comsol (South Africa): argued that private network investment must be aligned with engineering, safety and finance goals, citing Ericsson‘s private wireless deployment at Newmont in Australia, which achieved a 25% productivity increase per shift for remotely operated dozers.

Why it matters for buyers: ports and mines are now buying private networks as managed, multi-year services tied to specific operations, from drone inspections to fleet management. Klaipėda’s trial-then-design sequence and Vi’s command-centre scope are useful models for writing requirements before going to tender.

→ Model the return on automation, safety and connectivity with the TeckNexus ROI/TCO Calculator, or start from Ports and Mining vertical intelligence.

3. Utilities turn private wireless into a business case

Utility projects in October focused less on whether to build private wireless and more on how to architect, secure and justify it.

• Heddian & Avista (US): Heddian was selected by Avista to implement a hybrid private wireless network using Heddian UtiliSIM connectivity with Giesecke+Devrient SGP.32 SIM technology, a utility-grade private core from Druid Software, and network security and device management from OneLayer, with 24/7 monitoring by Heddian.

• Nokia & Burns & McDonnell: set out how private LTE and 5G with edge computing support SCADA, fault detection and control of distributed energy assets, noting that solar, wind and battery storage are expected to account for 93% of new US generation capacity in 2026.

• West Monroe: outlined how utilities can build private LTE business cases around total cost of ownership, spectrum, cybersecurity and resilience, with public carrier and satellite services as alternatives for some sites.

• U Mobile & HLGY Energy (Malaysia): signed a memorandum of understanding to explore private 5G smart solar farms with AI analytics, drone inspections and battery storage integration.

• TeckNexus analysis: “Utility Private Networks Move from Pilots to Business Cases” sets out the building blocks of a defensible utility case and how hybrid architectures and eSIM change it.

Why it matters for buyers: the Avista project shows the utility stack separating into layers that can be sourced from different suppliers: connectivity and eSIM, core, security and operations. Utilities that define those layers early will find it easier to compare managed and self-built options and to keep security in scope from day one.

→ Plan your network step by step with the TeckNexus Utilities Private Broadband Planning journey, and check your posture with Private Network Security for Utilities.

4. Portable private 5G becomes its own category

Networks built to move, for races, festivals, exercises and large outdoor sites, produced some of October’s most specific performance figures.

• Riedel, DTM & TV Skyline (Germany): DTM became the first racing championship to adopt Riedel’s Easy5G permanently as its primary onboard camera transmission system across all 21 race cars, using 100 MHz of spectrum, uplink speeds of up to 140 Mbps and four to seven antenna sites per circuit.

• Citymesh, Anykrowd & Nevron (Belgium): offer a private 5G network that lets festival visitors send incident reports to a central command centre even when public networks are congested.

• Teltronic (Spain): deployed a rapid-deployment private 5G network providing broadband data and video for the Spanish Armed Forces’ ATLAS26 exercise.

• EAF (Brazil): demonstrated a secure national private mobile network for the Brazilian Navy, which will run a free one-year pilot from a Brasília data centre with a redundant hub in Rio, tested for encrypted voice and video, P25 radio interoperability and LEO satellite backup.

• Wifinity (UK): launched a fully managed private 5G service for large outdoor estates such as holiday parks and defence sites, covering survey, design, spectrum licences and ongoing optimisation.

• Aerix & partners (UK): an Aerix-led consortium secured more than £3.1 million of Innovate UK funding for MOSAIC-5G, an 18-month, £4.3 million project that aims to make private 5G deployable in hours rather than weeks, with validation on an 18-cell network in Bath.

• TeckNexus analysis: “Private 5G on the Move: Rapid-Deploy Networks for Events, Emergencies and Temporary Sites” examines the use cases, satellite backhaul and managed models behind the category.

Why it matters for buyers: portable networks are being bought for very different reasons, from broadcast quality to emergency resilience to sovereign defence, so evaluation criteria differ. Time to deploy, backhaul options, spectrum licensing and who operates the network on the day should all be scored explicitly.

→ Turn those requirements into a weighted supplier evaluation with the TeckNexus RFP Scorecard Generator.

5. Beyond the factory: banks, pharma, schools, cities and airports

Regulated and public-sector buyers added named deployments and frameworks, each with compliance or security requirements that shape the design.

• HP Korea & Nable (South Korea): signed a memorandum of understanding to scale private 5G wireless smart offices, combining HP’s 5G laptops and firmware-level security with Nable’s private 5G design and operations, building on the first-tier bank deployments with SK Telecom and Samsung covered in September.

• NTT DATA (US): set out why private 5G suits GMP-regulated pharma plants, citing deterministic performance in cleanrooms, FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and DSCSA serialisation requirements, and the cost of changing connectivity after validation.

• NTT DATA & City of Brownsville (US): integrated Cisco Identity Services Engine with the city’s private 5G network to apply unified identity and access control to cameras, sensors and tablets.

• Murray City School District (US): first built a CBRS private LTE network for student connectivity, then used federal school safety grants to extend it to security cameras at hard-to-reach sites, including an off-site driver education range, without trenching or new fibre.

• Hrvatski Telekom (Croatia): is building EU-cofinanced private 5G networks at Zagreb, Zadar and Pula airports under the NextGen 5G Airports project, with Pula adding a private network and advanced surveillance systems.

• TeckNexus analysis: “Beyond the Factory Floor: Private 5G Moves into Banks, Pharma Plants and Schools” examines what regulated industries need from a private network.

Why it matters for buyers: in regulated sectors the network has to fit an existing compliance and identity framework, not the other way round. Brownsville’s Cisco ISE integration and NTT DATA’s validation point both show that security and compliance teams belong in the design phase, before equipment is chosen.

→ Benchmark your security posture with the TeckNexus Assessments, including the Private Network Security for Airports assessment.

6. Architecture, reliability and the physical AI link

Suppliers and integrators focused on how private 5G fits alongside Wi-Fi, wired networks and edge AI, rather than replacing them.

• Celona: is combining private 5G, Wi-Fi 7 and AI-driven operations on its Orion platform, and estimates that a converged design could reduce wireless infrastructure costs by about 50% in a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing scenario.

• Canoga Perkins: President Malik Arshad set out how IEEE 802.1CB Frame Replication and Elimination for Reliability (FRER) replicates packets across redundant paths for seamless failover in industrial private 5G.

• PHY Wireless & Ubiik: integrated Ubiik’s private LTE and 5G infrastructure with PHY Wireless’ hellaPHY device-based positioning for 3GPP-compliant location on the same network.

• ETSI: DECT NR+, recognised by ITU for IMT-2020, is progressing toward commercial products as a non-cellular, operator-independent option for industrial IoT in the 1.9 GHz band.

• iBwave Solutions (US): network planning and design software is now available through Carahsoft’s NASA SEWP V and OMNIA Partners contracts for public-sector buyers.

• Vodafone Oman, Infosys and Ericsson: Vodafone Oman proposed pilot-led standalone 5G with edge computing for oil and gas, ports and public safety; Infosys positioned private production networks as the foundation for physical AI; and Ericsson published a practitioner guide on where private 5G fits for industrial sites in Australia and New Zealand.

• TeckNexus analysis: “Can the Network Be the Robot’s Brain?” explains how robot AI offloading to the network edge works and what the network must guarantee.

Why it matters for buyers: few sites will run on private 5G alone. The more useful question is which workloads need cellular mobility, determinism or positioning and which stay on Wi-Fi or wired links. Supplier estimates such as Celona’s 50% are a starting point for your own design, not a substitute for it.

→ Size the radio layer and compare architectures with the TeckNexus Network Planning tools.

What Private Network Insights for October 2026 means if you’re evaluating a private network

October’s throughline is choice: more spectrum routes, more delivery models and more architectures to combine. Six moves follow directly from the month:

• Revisit your spectrum plan: Chile, Mexico, Sweden, Iceland and India all opened or confirmed enterprise routes this month, and regional designs around 2.3 GHz and 3.8 GHz are now realistic.

• Write operational requirements before the tender: Klaipėda’s trial-then-design sequence and Vi Business’s command-centre scope at Hindalco show what a well-scoped port or mine requirement looks like.

• Treat the utility stack as layers: Avista’s split between eSIM connectivity, core, security and operations makes it easier to compare suppliers and keep security in scope.

• Evaluate portable networks as their own category: Riedel at DTM, Citymesh at festivals, Teltronic at ATLAS26 and Wifinity’s managed service each answer a different deployment question.

• Bring compliance and identity teams in early: NTT DATA’s work in pharma and in Brownsville shows that validation and access control shape the design.

• Design for coexistence, not replacement: Celona, Canoga Perkins and PHY Wireless all position private 5G alongside Wi-Fi, wired and positioning layers.

Catching up? Last month’s signal is here: Runways, Rail, and Ready-to-Deploy: Private Network Insights, September 2026 →

→ Start with the TeckNexus Intelligence Platform: independent, buyer-neutral tools for spectrum, TCO, architecture, and RFP decisions.

This analysis is drawn from TeckNexus’s full curated Private Network Monthly Insights for October 2026. See every deployment, product, and partnership update →