When we first wrote about Valenciaport’s private 5G plans back in 2025, the focus was on the ambition to build a dedicated, port-wide mobile network. Almost two years later, physical deployment is under way, while presentations at PortComms 2026 in London have offered a useful look at both the engineering involved and the lessons being learnt.
The Port of Valencia is implementing a private 5G Standalone (SA) network intended to support mobile communications independently of public mobile operators. The project runs from December 2024 to November 2027 and is co-funded through the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility Digital programme. Valenciaport’s August 2026 progress update put the infrastructure investment at €6.9 million including VAT; the European Commission’s project listing gives a €5.9 million project budget and a €4.4 million EU contribution, on a different accounting basis.
According to the August update, six of the 17 planned telecommunications towers had been erected, while work continued on the remaining sites. The fibre-optic ring that will provide network transport had been completed, and installation of radio equipment, the 5G core and cybersecurity systems was progressing. The six-tower figure describes the position in August; it is not a claim that the whole network was operational then.
During PortComms 2026, Joan Meseguer from Fundación Valenciaport and Francisco Javier Gallego from the Port Authority of Valencia explained more of the technical approach. The design presented included 17 radio sites and 39 antenna sectors, with 32T32R Massive MIMO equipment, dedicated fibre connectivity and geographically separated core facilities for resilience. The principal 5G spectrum is in band n40, around 2.3 GHz. The planned capacity to serve more than 25,000 devices should be understood as a design target, not a reported number of active connections.
One distinctive requirement is uplink performance. Mobile surveillance cameras, vehicles and drones need to send video from the port to processing systems. For these applications, predictable uplink capacity, coverage, mobility and service availability matter more than impressive headline download speeds.
Perhaps the most useful part of the Valenciaport presentation was its openness about practical challenges. Site surveys and radio plans are only the beginning. Foundations, civil works, power connections, permits, ownership of existing towers and coordination with nearby areas can all change where antennas can actually be installed. Some locations also require care over radio emissions towards neighbouring urban areas.
In a subsequent panel, the Valencia team reflected that they would have engaged the port’s infrastructure department much earlier. That is an important lesson for other ports considering private networks: a technically attractive radio design can still become difficult or expensive when it meets physical infrastructure and approval processes.
The discussion also raised the longer-term question of what happens after EU-funded deployment. Initial maintenance is part of the project arrangements, but sustained success will require operational ownership, continuing support and use cases that deliver measurable value.
Two initial use cases are central to the 5G VALENCIAPORT project: mobile police surveillance, including video from vehicles and other mobile equipment, and remote assistance for maintenance teams using video and augmented reality. Both make practical use of reliable wireless mobility rather than connectivity for its own sake.
Valencia has also been testing more advanced applications through separate research and pilot programmes. In July 2026, Fundación Valenciaport reported the completion of the IMAGINE-B5G project, which used the 5GVLCPortLab private 5G testbed. Its five pilots included PORTSAFE-B5G for AI-assisted safety monitoring with cameras, drones and ground vehicles; RESCUE-5G for remotely operating an unmanned surface vessel; and 5G-VIRTUFIX for augmented-reality-assisted maintenance. These were pilot results on a testbed, not evidence that all services were already running on the new port-wide network.
At PortComms, José Miguel Higón of Fundación Valenciaport also discussed work on maritime and road traffic awareness, combining sensor, radar and camera information with edge/cloud processing and more flexible allocation of network resources. This is being explored through initiatives including COP-PILOT. The challenge is to move from detecting an event to helping port personnel make timely, reliable operational decisions.
Valenciaport offers an interesting example of a port authority taking control of its own mobile connectivity infrastructure. However, the important milestone will not simply be the completion of 17 towers. It will be demonstrating reliable coverage, uplink performance, application integration, recovery from failures and actual benefits for the people using the network.
For other ports, the lessons from Valencia are already valuable: involve infrastructure and operational teams early, treat spectrum and physical access as fundamental design inputs, keep pilot achievements separate from production deployment, and measure success at the application level. Private 5G is the enabler; safer, more efficient port operations are the objective.
For readers interested in exploring these topics further, our PortComms 2026 Executive Briefing is available online. A more comprehensive research report is also available for purchase, providing detailed session-by-session analysis, real-world port connectivity case studies, technical and operational challenges, lessons learnt, and practical insights into private wireless network deployments, business models and future opportunities.
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