As telecom networks transition toward cloud-native, AI-enabled architectures, competition among MPN core vendors is intensifying. Vendors are differentiating themselves through strategic positioning rather than technology alone. As enterprise demand for private cellular networks expands across industries and geographies, vendors are refining their market approach, strengthening product portfolios, scaling deployment capabilities, building ecosystem partnerships, and evolving commercial models to address diverse customer requirements. These strategic choices are shaping competitive dynamics and influencing how vendors capture opportunities across different sectors and regions.
This blog examines the key strategies adopted by leading MPN core vendors and highlights the insights from our latest MPN core vendors analysis report, providing a structured view of how the competitive landscape is evolving. If you want to read about this in more detail, there is extensive discussion in the associated report ‘Private mobile core market: Vendor analysis and strategic market developments’ which looks at key trends in the mobile core space, including examination of the strategies and capabilities of the leading vendors in the space: AttoCore, Blue Arcus Technologies, Celona, Cirrus Core Networks, Cumucore, Druid Software, Ericsson, Highway 9 Networks, HPE, Huawei, IPLOOK, Mavenir, Nokia, Pente Networks, Samsung, and ZTE.
The 4G/5G cloud core market has undergone consolidation, with several early challengers either exiting the market or scaling back their ambitions. Casa Systems has withdrawn from the sector, while Microsoft Azure acquired Affirmed Networks only to subsequently discontinue its offerings. Microsoft also acquired Metaswitch in 2020 to build up its telecom software business, but later shifted strategies, and sold Metaswitch to Alianza in March 2025.
HPE continues to offer selected core network functions but never fully realised its pre-pandemic vision of capitalising on 5G's Service-Based Architecture (SBA). More recently, Nokia has also adjusted its strategy, placing greater emphasis on supplying radio access network (RAN) equipment, such as its AirScale radios, alongside Nokia and third-party core platforms, rather than pursuing complex end-to-end integration projects. This shift reflects the company's private wireless business, where the majority of revenue is generated from hardware, while software and core network components account for a relatively small share.
Despite this consolidation, the market remains competitive, with several vendors continuing to strengthen their cloud core portfolios and refine their value propositions.
Market players have positioned themselves into three broad categories. The first comprises the established telecom infrastructure vendors, including Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE and Samsung, which leverage their extensive experience in public mobile networks, global customer bases and end-to-end telecom portfolios to compete across both public and private core markets. The second consists of enterprise-first vendors such as Celona, HPE and Druid Software, which approach private wireless from an enterprise networking perspective, positioning mobile connectivity alongside Wi-Fi, edge computing and cloud infrastructure as part of broader digital transformation initiatives. The final category includes specialist core vendors such as AttoCore, Cumucore, Blue Arcus Technologies, Highway 9, Cirrus Core, Pente Networks and IPLOOK. These vendors generally lack the scale of the larger incumbents but compensate through focused product strategies, greater flexibility and expertise in specific deployment scenarios or industries.
Pure-play private core vendors have concentrated on solving enterprise connectivity challenges, whereas traditional telecom suppliers continue to balance investments across both operator and enterprise markets. For smaller vendors in particular, specialisation appears to be less of a choice and more of a competitive necessity.
Private wireless is evolving into a vertical-specific market rather than a horizontal technology play, especially for specialist players. Competing with larger players is already challenging, and there isn't much technological differentiation either. Focusing on specific verticals, especially those where there's greater demand for tailored solutions rather than generic products, could help specialist companies build stronger positioning and increase their chances of winning.
Although manufacturing remains the dominant target sector across almost every vendor portfolio, companies are increasingly distinguishing themselves through expertise in specific industries. For example, AttoCore is focusing on defence and mission-critical communications, Pente Networks on large-scale outdoor industrial deployments, targeting sectors such as mining, agriculture, construction, oil and gas, defence, government and critical infrastructure. Celona has expanded into healthcare and logistics, Cumucore has differentiated itself in media production and temporary event networks.Huawei, meanwhile, continues to leverage its expertise in industrial digital transformation, with strong positions in manufacturing, mining, ports, utilities and government projects across China, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Rather than attempting to serve every industry equally, some specialist vendors are choosing to focus on sectors where they possess domain expertise, established references and specialised solution partners.
While private wireless is a global opportunity, some vendors have built their businesses around specific geographic strongholds, reflecting local market dynamics, regulatory environments, channel partnerships and customer relationships. Huawei and ZTE maintain particularly strong positions across China and other emerging markets, while Celona has established significant momentum in North America. Samsung's deployments remain concentrated in South Korea, Japan and the United States, and AttoCore continues to leverage its reputation within North American defence and mission-critical sectors. Pente Networks has primarily focused on North and Latin America, while Highway 9 has concentrated almost exclusively on the North American market. These regional strengths demonstrate that partnerships, regulatory familiarity and established customer relationships often matter as much as technological capability when expanding internationally.
In contrast, vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson, Cumucore and Druid Software have pursued broader international expansion, supporting deployments across multiple regions through global sales organisations, systems integration partners and enterprise ecosystems. However, even these global suppliers often exhibit stronger momentum in particular markets, where local spectrum policies, established customer bases and partner networks provide a competitive advantage.
Vendors such as Nokia, HPE, Huawei and Ericsson have accumulated hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of deployments, giving them extensive customer references, mature partner ecosystems and proven implementation experience. These large installed bases create advantages that extend beyond market perception, including stronger ecosystem relationships, recurring software revenues and greater customer confidence in long-term support. In comparison, many emerging vendors remain at the tens-of-deployments stage and therefore rely on innovation, agility and specialist expertise to compete. As enterprise customers increasingly seek proven deployments and lower implementation risk, deployment scale is likely to become an even stronger competitive moat over the coming years.
Among specialist private core vendors, Druid Software has built one of the largest installed bases with over 2,000 private network deployments worldwide. Celona has emerged as one of the fastest-growing specialists, surpassing 150 enterprise customers globally and establishing itself as one of the largest pure-play enterprise private wireless providers.
While deployment scale alone does not determine market leadership, it provides important evidence of technology maturity, operational experience and customer confidence.
Perhaps surprisingly, LTE and 5G positioning also reveal important differences in vendor strategy. While virtually every supplier now supports both LTE and cloud-native 5G Standalone, their messaging varies considerably. Vendors such as Mavenir and Samsung present themselves as strongly 5G-native, reflecting their emphasis on next-generation architectures. Others, including Nokia, HPE and Druid Software, continue to highlight the importance of their extensive LTE installed bases while positioning 5G as a natural evolution rather than a wholesale replacement. Meanwhile, companies such as Blue Arcus, Cumucore and Ericsson place greater emphasis on migration, recognising that many enterprises continue to deploy LTE today while planning for future 5G adoption. This reinforces the view that although 5G dominates vendor messaging, LTE remains the commercial foundation of much of the current private wireless market.
As the private wireless market matures, vendors are becoming more selective in their growth strategies. Rather than expanding into every adjacent opportunity, many are concentrating investment on areas where they have established technical strengths, differentiated capabilities and clearer paths to profitability.
Mavenir provides one of the clearest examples of this shift. The company has refocused on its core software businesses including packet core, IMS and messaging, which now account for approximately 80–90% of total revenue. It has also stepped back from its ambition to manufacture Open RAN radio units, choosing instead to reinforce its position as a software specialist. As mentioned earlier, Nokia is also refining its strategy. By moving its Enterprise Campus Edge business into its Portfolio Businesses segment, the company appears to be placing greater emphasis on its infrastructure portfolio while increasingly relying on communications service providers (CSPs) and systems integrators to deliver end-to-end enterprise solutions.
Celona, meanwhile, has shifted from rapid expansion towards more disciplined growth. Rather than prioritising market share, the company is focusing on larger enterprise accounts, expanding existing customer relationships and strengthening its indirect channel ecosystem to drive more sustainable long-term growth.
These strategic adjustments reflect a more mature market where sustainable growth increasingly outweighs rapid expansion.
As private wireless technology matures, vendors are shifting their messaging from connectivity to intelligence. Rather than positioning private LTE and 5G as standalone networking solutions, many are presenting them as the foundation for AI-enabled industrial operations, edge computing and autonomous systems. In many respects, AI and more recently, ‘physical AI’ is becoming the new language of private wireless, reflecting how enterprises are beginning to evaluate digital infrastructure investments.
Celona provides one of the clearest examples of this shift. The company is positioning its platform as infrastructure for physical AI, combining private wireless with edge computing, cloud-native operations and intelligent network automation. HPE is pursuing a similar strategy through IT integration. Rather than differentiating on connectivity alone, it combines private LTE/5G with Aruba Central, enabling enterprises to manage Wi-Fi, switching, SD-WAN and cellular infrastructure through a unified operational platform.
This evolution reflects a broader market trend. As connectivity becomes more standardised, vendors are increasingly competing on the intelligence, automation and integration capabilities built on top of the network.
Competitive advantage is no longer defined solely by 5G capability or early market entry. Instead, success increasingly depends on deployment scale, ecosystem strength, vertical expertise, operational simplicity, and the ability to deliver long-term enterprise value.
LTE and 5G will continue to coexist for the foreseeable future, while ecosystem partnerships will remain essential for scaling deployments. At the same time, AI, edge computing, and cloud-native architectures are becoming central to vendor differentiation.
As vendors refine their strategies and enterprises become more selective in their investments, the market is shifting from rapid expansion to sustainable, value-driven growth.
