Here is a summary of AT&T’s rarely-heard position on private 5G, as scooped from the cutting room floor after today’s write-up about its AI grid strategy with Cisco– which is well worth a read. We will write this tomorrow, but here is a sneak peak, to give you the gist of it: private networks are important, says AT&T, but have not seen the revenue boom that was once expected – and as witnessed in Nokia’s weird about-turn, and also Verizon’s reset. So, AT&T is dialling back the hype; but it says they are a necessary capability, if not a transformational growth engine. 

The firm has deals with two vendors, a big one and a small one, for big projects and small projects. It won’t say which ones, although RCR has chased again. But speculatively, Ericsson and Celona would fit the bill, as they often seem to do. Another conversation today, incidentally: enterprises are calling rivals about the longevity of their Nokia systems – or more specifically, the management of them. Anyway; AT&T is positioning private 4G/5G around specific needs: coverage gaps where macro networks fall short; situations where DAS and Wi-Fi solutions do the same.

Which is all very familiar, of course; same enterprise needs: on-prem data control, security and privacy, deterministic performance. Its go-to-market is somewhat cautious, definitely under-publicised. It has limited public references (versus Verizon, say). Its known activity includes large automotive manufacturing plants, one hybrid factory-to-field use case, and various public sector / government projects. So it may be quieter, but, as with Ericsson (versus Nokia) to an extent, and per a rush of analyst forecasts about a 2030 boom-time, plus today’s other conversation about a late pick-up in the market, maybe its timing is spot on. 

It is also (much) more open to private enterprise (non-telco) licensed spectrum, as well – versus Verizon, notably, but T-Mobile, too. It would prefer to use its own, but it understands sometimes the alternative is better or preferred. So AT&T is trying to retain control and differentiation via its own spectrum, but it is absolutely pragmatic. But one thing: it (AT&T Business, now incorporating AT&T IoT) wants customers to manage private networks using the same tools as public cellular.

It specifically references IoT platforms like Control Center and Connection Manager, and implicitly suggests a bigger vision, where private networks are (inevitably from a telco-side view) an extension of the public general-purpose offering. Like 5G slices and AI grids, and whatever else. More tomorrow.