Germany’s Private 5G Market Moves Beyond the Pilot Phase

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Germany was one of the first countries in Europe to make dedicated spectrum available directly to enterprises for local private 5G networks. Applications for spectrum in the 3.7–3.8 GHz band opened in November 2019, followed by local access to the 24.25–27.5 GHz band in 2021.

This approach allowed manufacturers, ports, airports, universities, research institutes and other organisations to establish networks using directly assigned spectrum rather than depending on spectrum and network services provided by a mobile network operator.

It established Germany as an important reference market for private 5G and a model frequently considered in international discussions about local spectrum licensing.

In April 2025, Netmanias published a detailed analysis of Germany’s private 5G market covering developments from 2020 through to the first quarter of 2025. It identified 49 publicly disclosed enterprise deployments and described Germany as the most active private 5G market in Europe.

Manufacturing accounted for 18 of those deployments. Ericsson was identified as the infrastructure supplier in 22 cases, followed by Nokia in nine. Most deployments used local spectrum in the 3.7–3.8 GHz band, while the majority followed a standalone architecture and were deployed predominantly on enterprise premises.

More than a year later, Germany remains a key market to watch. Spectrum assignments continue to grow, but the more significant development is operational. Private networks are beginning to transition from experimental testbeds into infrastructure supporting ports, railway depots, factories and logistics hubs.

Spectrum Assignments Continue to Grow

The latest publicly available spectrum-assignment figures from the Bundesnetzagentur, dated November 2025, record 484 applications and 484 frequency assignments for local networks in the 3.7–3.8 GHz band.

The assignments were distributed across several sectors:

  • Society, research and development: 31 per cent
  • Telecommunications, IT and services: 28 per cent
  • Metal and electronics: 23 per cent
  • Transport and logistics: 6 per cent
  • Chemicals and raw materials: 5 per cent
  • Pharmaceuticals and healthcare: 3 per cent
  • Media: 2 per cent
  • Energy and environment: 2 per cent

These figures highlight Germany’s success in creating a diverse private 5G ecosystem. They also reveal how much of the activity remains centred around research organisations, technology suppliers, systems integrators and test facilities.

The Bundesnetzagentur registry includes major industrial organisations such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Siemens, Bosch, Tesla, BASF, Schaeffler, KUKA, Miele, Lufthansa Technik and Fraport.

It also includes dozens of universities, Fraunhofer institutes, equipment suppliers, consultancies and network specialists.

It is important, however, not to equate 484 spectrum assignments directly with 484 fully deployed, production-grade private networks.

An assignment may cover a research facility, laboratory, temporary project or planned deployment rather than a production network. The same organisation may also obtain separate assignments for different sites.

Conversely, some enterprise private networks are delivered using a mobile operator’s nationally licensed spectrum and therefore do not appear in the local-assignment figures.

Netmanias identified five publicly disclosed German deployments using public mobile spectrum rather than local 3.7 GHz or 26 GHz assignments.

The number of publicly confirmed operational networks will therefore remain lower than the headline spectrum-assignment count. The figures are still useful as an indication of interest and ecosystem activity, but they should not be treated as a direct measure of commercial deployment.

Local 26 GHz Adoption Remains Limited

Germany also makes millimetre-wave spectrum in the 24.25–27.5 GHz range available for local broadband and private 5G use.

Despite the substantial bandwidth available at these frequencies, demand remains limited. The latest publicly available Bundesnetzagentur figures record just 27 applications and 27 frequency assignments in the band.

This is consistent with the pattern identified by Netmanias. Its analysis found only one publicly disclosed German private network using local 26 GHz spectrum, compared with 42 deployments using the 3.7–3.8 GHz band.

The limited uptake is understandable.

Millimetre-wave spectrum can provide extremely high capacity, but it has a shorter effective range and is more easily obstructed by walls, machinery, metal inventory, vehicles and other objects. Establishing reliable coverage can require a higher density of radios, increasing deployment cost and RF planning complexity.

These challenges are particularly relevant in industrial environments where machinery, production lines, inventory and vehicles may move or change over time.

For most current private network requirements, up to 100 MHz of spectrum at 3.7 GHz offers a more practical balance of coverage, capacity, equipment availability and deployment cost.

The 26 GHz band remains potentially valuable for highly localised applications requiring extremely high throughput, but it has not developed into a mainstream enterprise private 5G band in Germany.

Private 5G Enters Operational Port Logistics

One of the most notable recent German deployments is at Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG’s Container Terminal Altenwerder in the Port of Hamburg.

Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson have deployed a private 5G campus network covering approximately one square kilometre of the highly automated terminal.

The network connects vehicles, sensors, mobile devices and IT systems in real time. It is intended to support critical logistics processes while also providing an environment in which new port technologies can be tested under operational conditions.

Ports are particularly suitable environments for private cellular infrastructure.

They cover large outdoor areas, include moving equipment and often have limited fixed infrastructure in the places where connectivity is required. Cranes, vehicles, cameras, sensors, handheld terminals and maintenance systems may all require predictable wireless connectivity.

High densities of metal structures, moving containers and large vehicles can also create a challenging radio environment. Wi-Fi may remain useful for many applications, but private cellular connectivity can provide more controlled mobility, coverage and quality of service for selected operational systems.

The Altenwerder deployment illustrates how the boundary between a proof of concept and an operational network is becoming less clear.

The network supports daily terminal processes while also creating a platform for evaluating autonomous logistics, real-time applications and other port technologies under live operating conditions.

This is an important progression from demonstrating private 5G as an isolated connectivity technology. The network is becoming part of a wider operational technology environment involving vehicles, equipment, applications and industrial data.

Its long-term value will nevertheless depend on more than radio performance. It must integrate with terminal applications, cybersecurity systems, device-management platforms and existing wired and wireless infrastructure.

Deutsche Bahn Explores Wider Rail Automation

Rail facilities represent another important vertical for private 5G in Germany. In January 2026, Deutsche Bahn demonstrated the remote control of an S-Bahn train at its Munich-Steinhausen depot.

The train was controlled from a remote operating position inside a depot building, while a dedicated 5G campus network carried control commands, vehicle status information and high-resolution live video.

Two antennas mounted on the workshop roof provided coverage across the test area. Deutsche Bahn said the complete test system, including the private 5G network, remote operating station and equipment installed on the train, was assembled in four months.

The immediate use case is remote train movement within the depot.

Steinhausen handles around 350 shunting movements each day, including moving trains into workshops, cleaning facilities and other service areas.

Remote operation could reduce the time employees spend travelling between trains and operating positions, while allowing replacement vehicles to be prepared more efficiently.

The project remains a test rather than a general commercial deployment. Deutsche Bahn has said that wider rollout will depend on financing and other considerations.

It nevertheless provides a useful example of why private 5G is relevant to industrial transport operations. The network is directly supporting control, telemetry and video rather than simply providing connectivity for employees or passengers.

The opportunity also extends beyond a single depot.

In December 2025, Boldyn Networks announced a framework agreement with Deutsche Bahn for the planning, construction and operation of 5G campus networks.

According to Boldyn, the customised solutions will use local 3.7–3.8 GHz spectrum and standalone 5G architecture, with support for capabilities including eSIM profiles, network slicing and 5G RedCap.

The framework agreement does not mean that large numbers of sites have already been deployed. It does, however, indicate movement towards more repeatable network designs and operating models rather than treating every location as a completely separate experiment.

From Network Trials to Operating Models

Germany’s early private 5G projects were often designed to answer basic technical questions.

Could 5G deliver predictable indoor coverage in heavy industrial environments? Could latency and reliability support automated guided vehicles and mobile robotics? Could an enterprise operate its own mobile core? Could a local network provide the mobility and quality of service required by industrial applications?

Those questions have not disappeared, but they are now relatively well understood.

The market is increasingly confronting a more complex set of operational challenges.

Day-2 operations

A private network must be maintained long after the initial installation and demonstration have finished.

Software updates, security patches, fault management, performance monitoring and lifecycle support all require clear ownership. Enterprises must decide which activities will be performed internally and which will be handled by a supplier, systems integrator or managed service provider.

System integration

A private 5G network cannot create value in isolation. It must connect with industrial operational technology, manufacturing execution systems, programmable logic controllers, supervisory control and data acquisition systems, video platforms and enterprise IT infrastructure.

The cost and complexity of this integration may exceed the cost of the radio and core network itself.

Device management

Industrial deployments may include smartphones, tablets, routers, cameras, sensors, vehicles, robots and specialised terminals.

These devices must be provisioned, authenticated, monitored and updated throughout their working lives. The use of physical SIMs, eSIMs and integrated SIM technologies will influence how efficiently large device populations can be managed.

Economic justification

Private 5G must solve a sufficiently important operational problem to justify its deployment and support costs. In many cases, the correct question is not whether 5G is technically better than Wi-Fi, but whether it provides enough additional value for a particular application.

That value may come from mobility, coverage, deterministic performance, security, integration with edge computing or the ability to consolidate multiple specialised wireless systems.

Replication

A successful deployment at one factory, port or depot does not automatically create a scalable business case.

Enterprises need network designs, device portfolios, integration methods and commercial models that can be repeated across multiple sites without effectively starting again each time.

This operational pivot helps explain why telecommunications providers, IT companies and service organisations account for 28 per cent of Germany’s local spectrum assignments.

Most industrial enterprises require specialist partners to design, integrate and maintain private cellular infrastructure, even when the enterprise holds the spectrum assignment directly.

The German market now includes mobile operators, traditional network equipment suppliers, industrial systems integrators, neutral hosts, specialist private network providers and smaller companies offering packaged or managed solutions.

Different enterprises will choose different levels of ownership and control.

Some may want a fully isolated standalone network with data and core functions retained on site. Others may prefer a managed network in which a third party operates the infrastructure.

Hybrid arrangements can combine local radio and edge processing with centralised management or selected services delivered by a public mobile operator.

Spectrum Access Is the Foundation, Not the Final Product

Germany’s regulatory framework addressed one of the largest early barriers to private network adoption by offering direct enterprise access to suitable licensed spectrum.

This gave organisations greater control over their coverage, capacity, security policies and technology roadmap without requiring them to depend entirely on a mobile network operator.

The application and assignment fees are based on factors including bandwidth, licence duration and geographic area rather than requiring enterprises to participate in a national spectrum auction.

That policy decision created favourable conditions for experimentation and helped establish a broad supplier and research ecosystem.

However, spectrum assignments alone do not measure market maturity.

Germany has hundreds of local assignments, but only a smaller number of publicly documented operational deployments. Research, testing, product development and demonstration facilities remain a substantial part of the market.

The next stage will depend less on raw spectrum availability and more on devices, system integration, operational support and measurable business outcomes.

Enterprises will also need greater confidence that solutions can be maintained over many years. Industrial systems often remain in service for much longer than consumer mobile devices, making hardware availability, software support and upgrade paths particularly important.

Moving Beyond the Pilot Phase

Germany’s private 5G market has not suddenly moved from trials to mass deployment.

Progress remains gradual, and many installations continue to function primarily as research platforms, demonstration environments or limited industrial pilots.

There are nevertheless signs of a more mature market.

The Container Terminal Altenwerder network is designed to support real terminal processes while enabling further innovation. Deutsche Bahn is linking private 5G directly to remote train movement and exploring a common approach across multiple facilities.

Large manufacturers continue to hold local spectrum assignments, while a broad group of suppliers and systems integrators is developing the capability to deploy and operate these networks.

Germany’s private 5G experiment can therefore be considered a qualified success.

The country has demonstrated that direct enterprise access to licensed spectrum can stimulate investment, encourage experimentation and create a diverse ecosystem.

The more difficult stage is now beginning: converting technical capability into repeatable, production-grade deployments that solve genuine operational problems and produce benefits significant enough to justify their cost.

The number of spectrum assignments will continue to attract attention, but more meaningful measures will be how many networks enter sustained operation, how widely successful applications are replicated and whether private 5G becomes a normal part of industrial infrastructure rather than remaining a technology project in its own right.

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