Scaling private 5G: A live discussion about lessons learned

“Your technology should just disappear.”

Private 5G has proven its value. The next challenge is scaling beyond bespoke deployments as stakeholders contend with integration complexity, fragmented operating models and unclear go-to-market routes that are marring adoption.

On the latest episode of Zero-Touch Live, Rakuten Symphony CMO Geoff Hollingworth was joined by Paul Rhodes of Digital Catapult and Alex Smith of Antevia Networks to unpack what it really takes to make private 5G predictable, repeatable and enterprise-ready. The conversation drew on live deployments and important integration work underway in the UK.

📺 The replay is available now below.

Practical realities propelling private adoption

The discussion focused on key practical realities shaping private 5G adoption:

• Integration is the real barrier to scale. Both speakers stressed that most challenges emerge when multi-vendor systems are deployed and operated in the real world, not in isolated testing.
• Simplification drives repeatability. Enterprises expect private 5G to behave like an IT system, not some side telecom project to manage. This is especially true in cases when IT teams are small and operational tolerance is low.
• Operational readiness matters more than theoretical interoperability. Neutral environments like Digital Catapult’s SONIC Labs help vendors harden integrations, align operational workflows and reduce deployment risk before solutions reach customers.

Alex spoke directly to the mindset shift:

“The conversation should be about the service that it’s supporting, not about the technology that’s underpinning it.”

👉 Watch the full discussion for real deployment lessons and to hear what other markets, regulators and vendors can take away from the UK’s approach to scaling private 5G.

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