September 2025
Healthcare is an above-average opportunity for Private 5G (P5G), with our online content survey ranking healthcare 6th out of the 14 industries researched.
Ericsson, Nokia, Verizon, and AT&T lead online content for P5G in healthcare, supporting critical applications including real-time patient monitoring, connected medical devices, medical imaging, AR/VR training, telehealth, and advanced procedures like remote surgery and robotics.
Leading hospitals globally use P5G for robotic-assisted procedures, AR/VR training, continuous patient monitoring, and smart logistics, improving care quality, access, and operational efficiency.
P5G-powered telemedicine extends specialist care to remote areas, reducing travel and enhancing patient care.
P5G surpasses traditional Wi-Fi in terms of security, enabling compliance with stringent healthcare data regulations through dedicated network slices and robust encryption.
But there are barriers to adoption. High costs, technical complexity, spectrum challenges, interoperability issues, and skill gaps slow widespread adoption, but pilots and partnerships show the way forward.
Keys to Success: Overcome hurdles with strategic vendor partnerships, targeted pilots, flexible architecture, and cybersecurity focus; public-private collaboration can accelerate deployment.
Looking Ahead: P5G is already transforming some leading healthcare facilities, but has yet to overcome hurdles needed for its widespread adoption.
Healthcare encompasses several broad industry sectors, including healthcare services and facilities (hospitals, clinics, providers), medical devices and supplies, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, health insurance and managed care, healthcare technology (digital tools and health IT), and life sciences tools and services (research, diagnostics, and laboratory services). Each sector plays a distinct but interconnected role in delivering, funding, and advancing the quality and accessibility of health services and products.
Digital transformation in healthcare aims to integrate and streamline care through the use of technology. Key initiatives include unified digital platforms and interoperable electronic health records that align clinical and administrative workflows to enable real-time data access and coordinated care. Telemedicine and virtual services are expanding to improve accessibility and patient engagement. Artificial intelligence and data analytics support enhanced diagnostics, personalized treatment, and operational efficiency. Wearables and the Internet of Medical Things enable continuous remote monitoring and proactive care. Cloud-based infrastructure offers scalability, with a strong emphasis on data security and regulatory compliance. Providers are also equipping patients with digital tools for self-management and communication. While these strategies are reshaping healthcare delivery toward a more efficient, patient-centered model, challenges remain in integrating legacy systems, upskilling staff, and meeting compliance requirements.
Private 5G (P5G) is transforming healthcare by enabling a wide range of advanced clinical, operational, and research use cases across hospitals and health systems worldwide. Hospitals such as Oulu University Hospital (Finland), Az Groeninge (Belgium), and Bethlem Royal (UK) are using P5G for real-time surgical imaging, AI-driven safety monitoring, wireless smart glasses for clinicians, and smart IoT-based infrastructure management. Institutions like Frankfurt University Hospital and Gesundheit Burgenland are leveraging P5G for telemedicine, remote diagnostics, AI-supported logistics, and digitized care workflows.
In the United States, facilities such as the Cleveland Clinic's Mentor Hospital, Stanford Health Care, and the VA Healthcare system are integrating P5G with edge computing and AR/VR for surgical planning, digital twin diagnostics, self-service kiosks, and remote patient monitoring. Cancer-focused centers, such as City of Hope and the Ellison Institute, utilize the network to support data-intensive applications, including 3D imaging, wearable devices for patient care analytics, and precision treatment planning.
In Asia, Ewha Womans University Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, and West China Second University Hospital use P5G for AR-assisted surgeries, robotic automation, and MEC-enabled emergency response. Rural outreach programs, like Iwamizawa City’s telemedicine bus and the Hainan Province Smart Healthcare Network, extend specialist care to underserved regions using high-bandwidth, low-latency networks. Collectively, these deployments demonstrate how P5G enhances clinical accuracy, accelerates decision-making, supports mobile and remote care, and future-proofs healthcare infrastructure through high-speed, secure, and reliable connectivity.
Online content published since 2022 that related to P5G in healthcare was collected and filtered using proprietary web crawling, AI, and NLP tools, yielding a corpus of 206 relevant impressions (ALL CONTENT). Of this, 174 focused on company activity in the sector (RICH CONTENT), identifying 131 companies. Approximately 26.0 % of the content in the corpus referenced multiple industry verticals in addition to healthcare, with an average of 2 to 3 other industries mentioned in this content.
The chart compares the content corpus for P5G in healthcare against other industry verticals to gauge relative market momentum. The analysis indicates that P5G has demonstrated above-average momentum in the healthcare sector compared to other industries.
Natural language processing (NLP) and AI tools were used to identify companies mentioned in the content corpus, measure their prevalence (BREADTH), and evaluate how frequently they appear alongside other companies (DEPTH). For the 131 companies identified, the ranking of the top 10 is shown in the chart below.
Ericsson is utilizing P5G in healthcare to deliver secure, low-latency connectivity, enabling critical applications such as real-time patient monitoring, connected medical devices, high-resolution imaging, and AR/VR-based training or remote consultations. Nokia is deploying P5G through its Digital Automation Cloud and MX Industrial Edge platforms, providing high-speed, secure connectivity for patient monitoring, medical imaging, robotics, real-time analytics, and advanced use cases, including remote surgery assistance and AR/VR-based training. Verizon is advancing P5G in healthcare by partnering with hospitals and research institutions to support secure, high-capacity connectivity for remote patient monitoring, connected devices, real-time imaging, telehealth, and low-latency applications such as AR/VR training and surgical assistance. AT&T is rolling out P5G to deliver secure, reliable connectivity for connected medical devices, real-time patient monitoring, telehealth services, high-resolution imaging, and advanced applications, such as AR/VR training and robotic-assisted procedures.
NLP and AI techniques were used to identify and classify keywords and phrases in the content corpus into 21 topics. Their frequency was measured (BREADTH) and their inter-relationships analyzed (DEPTH). The chart below shows the top 10 topics.
The most prominent topics in online content today are compute and communications, digital health, and security. Looking ahead, we anticipate that telemedicine, artificial intelligence, medical imaging, and augmented and virtual reality will gain prominence as hospitals accelerate their digital transformation initiatives.
Hospitals are deploying P5G with the objective of enhancing care, efficiency, and innovation. Use cases span AR-assisted surgery, robotic procedures, remote monitoring, telemedicine, logistics, and smart facility management, with deployments in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. While results show improved connectivity and precision medicine, challenges such as cost, integration, and security remain. Several notable use cases are summarized below.
Oulu University Hospital is a leading healthcare and research center in northern Finland, recognized for its commitment to smart, sustainable, and patient-centered care. On 18 February 2025, the hospital officially launched a standalone (SA) private 5G network, implemented with Nokia equipment and systems integration and design services provided by Boldyn Networks.
The network enables seamless connectivity across patient wards and operating theaters, supporting advanced applications such as wireless headsets for nurses, which facilitate more transparent and faster communication, and wearable smart glasses for surgeons, providing real-time access to critical surgical data. These innovations enhance workflow efficiency, improve team coordination, and support safer, more precise surgical outcomes.
AZ Groeninge Hospital, a large and innovation-focused teaching hospital in Kortrijk, Belgium, launched its pilot private 5G project in partnership with Proximus NXT in January 2024. The network supports the real-time transmission of high-resolution 3D surgical images, enabling surgeons to perform operations using robotic systems while receiving remote assistance from specialists both within and beyond the hospital.
Ultra-low latency is essential, as surgeons depend on immediate feedback during procedures. The network also facilitates remote expertise and training, allowing experienced surgeons to guide less experienced colleagues or trainees virtually—and potentially even operate surgical robots remotely, enhancing precision, collaboration, and access to specialized care.
Bethlem Royal Hospital is a historic psychiatric hospital in London, renowned as one of the oldest mental health institutions in the world. In July 2022, the hospital deployed P5G with support from Virgin Media O2 and Nokia, and funding from NHS Digital, becoming the first hospital in the United Kingdom to do so. The solution focuses on enabling mission-critical digital health use cases, such as remote patient monitoring with real-time, handheld e-observations for clinicians; smart IoT sensors for medicine fridge temperature, air quality, and space utilization; and augmented reality (AR) headsets for remote IT maintenance support.
The primary goals of Bethlem Royal Hospital’s P5G project were to deliver speeds of up to 799 Mb/s, save staff time (estimated at a 15% productivity gain and £11,000 per clinician annually), reduce medicine waste, improve infection control, and optimize hospital operations using AI-powered spatial analytics from CCTV feeds. This trial is the first step in a broader NHS strategy to achieve seamless, secure, high-uptime wireless connectivity across all clinical sites, demonstrating how advanced digital infrastructure can enhance both efficiency and patient care in a mental health setting.
Frankfurt University Hospital (FUH) is one of Germany’s leading teaching hospitals, affiliated with Goethe University, and is recognized for its advanced care, research, and medical education. FUH began deploying P5G in January 2023 in partnership with Vodafone Germany and supported by a EUR 3.3 million EU grant, as part of the “5G for University Hospital” initiative. The network serves over 800 specialists, 1,400 nurses, 50,000 inpatients, and 200,000 outpatients annually, enabling a range of advanced medical applications, including real-time telemedicine, remote diagnostics, mobile ultrasound examinations, digital health records, and wearable patient monitoring.
Gesundheit Burgenland is the largest healthcare provider in Austria’s Burgenland region, operating five public hospitals, namely Eisenstadt, Kittsee, Oberpullendorf, Oberwart, and Güssing. In May 2024, Gesundheit Burgenland initially deployed hospital-wide P5G at Oberwart before expanding to its facilities in Kittsee, Güssing, Oberpullendorf, and the Eisenstadt headquarters. The network was deployed in partnership with Magenta Telekom and CANCOM Austria to replace legacy communication systems and is viewed as a foundational platform for future digital innovations, including AI-supported diagnostics, real-time logistics for patient transportation and medical deliveries, and digitized care processes.
Cleveland Clinic’s new Mentor Hospital in Ohio opened in July 2023 and is the first U.S. hospital built with an integrated P5G network, designed for efficient, digitally advanced, and sustainable patient care as part of the Cleveland Clinic system. The P5G network was deployed in partnership with Verizon Business and Ericsson. It is underpinned by a digital-first healthcare model that leverages high-speed connectivity for various applications, including self-service patient kiosks, digital care coordination, in-room entertainment, asset tracking, and remote patient monitoring, with advanced applications such as AR/VR for clinical training and assisted surgery planned.
City of Hope in California is a leading U.S. cancer research and treatment center known for its cutting-edge clinical trials, pioneering therapies, and top-ranked bone marrow transplant program. The hospital implemented P5G to modernize its connectivity for staff and patients, supporting advanced healthcare applications that enable improved telemedicine services, remote patient monitoring, and the seamless transmission of large medical imaging files.
Stanford Health Care (SHC) in Palo Alto is a leading U.S. academic medical center, renowned for its advanced patient care and innovation across cancer, cardiac, neurology, and transplant services. In September 2023, SHC announced its partnership with Celona to deploy a 5 G and neutral host wireless network, addressing public cellular coverage and advanced clinical wireless needs at its facilities. The neutral host network solves chronic in-building cellular coverage issues for patients, staff, and visitors, replacing costly and inflexible distributed antenna systems (DAS). At the same time, the P5G component supports critical clinical communications, patient monitoring, and video feeds, offering a more reliable, secure, and high-quality alternative to Wi-Fi for core medical workflows.
VA Healthcare is the most extensive integrated health care system in the United States, providing a full spectrum of medical services to eligible veterans through a national network of 170 medical centers and over 1,000 outpatient clinics. VA Healthcare has deployed integrated P5G and mobile edge computing (MEC) flagship solutions at the Palo Alto and Livermore hospitals in partnership with Verizon Business. These networks use both mmWave and sub-6GHz radio spectrum to enable high-bandwidth applications such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) for surgical planning and digital twin capabilities. VA Health has also explored the use of 5G-enabled holographics. It has also investigated 5G-enabled drones for emergency response and search and rescue, enhanced situational awareness during crises, routine inspection and monitoring of hospital infrastructure, and the delivery of emergency medical supplies. With these initiatives, VA Healthcare is looking to establish itself as a testbed for 5G healthcare, with the broader goal of accelerating these technologies across the US healthcare system.
The Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine (EITM) is in Los Angeles, California, and is a multidisciplinary research and treatment center dedicated to advancing cancer care through science, technology, and patient-focused innovation. EITM has a P5G network, deployed by AT&T, that aims to accelerate cancer research, patient care, and wellness education in an innovative, connected environment. The network combines mmWave and sub-6GHz spectrum technologies. The mmWave technology enables ultra-high speeds and bandwidth, supporting applications such as 3D tumor imaging and real-time data analysis at the edge. At the same time, technology deployed in the lower band spectrum (sub-6GHz) enables wireless coverage throughout the facility for more conventional connectivity needs and advanced applications such as those for real-time patient monitoring and telemedicine. Patients and staff wear P5G-connected wearable sensors to track interactions and improve care processes. These sensors enable the Institute to monitor the frequency and quality of communication between patients and staff, providing data that helps personalize care and improve the patient experience.
Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital is a leading tertiary general hospital in Seoul, South Korea, providing advanced multidisciplinary care, regional emergency services, and specialized programs for women’s health. The hospital has partnered with Samsung and deployed a P5G network that utilizes both mid-band and mmWave spectrum bands. It is using the network to transform surgical and medical imaging practices by enabling high-precision, real-time augmented reality (AR)-assisted surgeries and rapid 3D reconstruction of computed tomography (CT) images. The network supports AR technology that guides surgeons during procedures by displaying the exact locations of tumors and tissues on a tablet positioned above the patient, replacing reliance on static CT scans and improving surgical accuracy. Additionally, the system facilitates real-time, long-distance collaboration, enabling surgeons in different locations to participate in live procedures and exchange advice. This capability paves the way for remote surgeries and physician training.
Samsung Medical Centre in South Korea is a leading tertiary referral hospital in Seoul, affiliated with Sungkyunkwan University. The hospital deployed its P5G network in December 2022 with the support of KT MOS, utilizing both mid-band and mmWave radio spectrum. It enables broadband connectivity and a variety of use cases, such as real-time remote surgical training and guidance, ultra-fast digital pathology diagnostics, and robotic automation for hospital logistics and disinfection. These use cases enable immersive medical education, facilitate quicker diagnosis and treatment, reduce operational risks, and enhance infection control.
China Second University Hospital West is a women’s and children’s hospital in Southwestern China, renowned for advanced care, research, and training. The hospital debuted P5G in November 2019 in collaboration with China Mobile and Huawei. The network leverages mobile edge computing (MEC) and network slicing to enable real-time camera surveillance for staff and patient tracking, smart asset management, and accelerated data transfer from ambulances to hospitals. These use cases help reduce patient wait times, triage and treatment, and overall patient care.
The Hainan Province Smart Healthcare Network is a major digital healthcare initiative in China, designed to bridge the gap in medical resources by connecting all levels of the province’s healthcare system, from village clinics to central hospitals, using P5G networks. Developed in partnership with China Unicom and Huawei, this system employs dedicated 5G infrastructure, network slicing, and edge computing and enables a variety of use cases, including real-time remote consultations, 5G-enabled diagnosis equipment, and data-driven care coordination, allowing patients in even the most remote areas to access specialist advice and faster treatment. The network has improved the efficiency of medical services and reduced average treatment times, particularly for patients in remote areas.
Iwamizawa City in Hokkaido, Japan, is pioneering a rural telemedicine initiative using a mobile medical bus equipped with advanced diagnostic tools, including 8K and 360 degree cameras, ultrasound, dermoscopes, and a real-haptics robotic arm, which leverages a P5G network to deliver high-quality, real-time remote specialist care to underserved communities. When the medical bus visits rural public facilities, it connects via a local P5G network, enabling specialists at Hokkaido University Hospital to conduct detailed remote examinations by viewing ultra-high-definition video feeds and even manipulating robotic devices with tactile feedback, closely simulating an in-person consultation. This approach addresses critical shortages of specialists and advanced equipment in rural areas, reduces the need for patients to travel long distances, and demonstrates how private 5G can enable scalable, high-fidelity telemedicine to narrow the urban-rural healthcare gap.
Although P5G promises significant benefits for healthcare, such as enabling real-time remote monitoring, telemedicine, and advanced medical IoT, its deployment faces substantial challenges. High infrastructure and operational costs, coupled with the technical complexity of integrating 5G with existing systems and ensuring robust, hospital-wide coverage, can be prohibitive for many institutions. Acquiring and managing suitable radio spectrum, often constrained by regulatory and availability issues, adds further complexity. Interoperability between 5G, medical devices, and health IT systems must be carefully managed to prevent disruptions to clinical workflows. Perhaps most critically, healthcare organizations must implement stringent security and privacy measures to protect sensitive patient data, all while addressing a shortage of in-house 5G expertise. Successfully navigating these hurdles is essential to fully realize 5G’s potential in transforming healthcare delivery.
To overcome these challenges, organizations are focusing on strategic partnerships with experienced vendors and integrators to manage technical complexity and avoid vendor lock-in, while leveraging grants or public-private collaboration to reduce financial barriers. Adopting flexible, standards-based architectures—such as 5G standalone with edge computing, network slicing, and eSIM—ensures reliable, secure, and interoperable networks that benefit from the mass market scale of 5G. Robust cybersecurity measures must be prioritized to protect sensitive patient data, alongside investments in staff training or managed services to address skill gaps. Piloting targeted use cases can demonstrate value and inform broader implementation, enabling healthcare providers to gradually scale up private 5G for advanced, resilient, and future-proof patient care.
P5G is emerging as a transformative technology for global healthcare, delivering ultra-fast, secure, and reliable connectivity that unlocks advanced applications, such as remote surgery, real-time telemedicine, AI-driven diagnostics, and continuous patient monitoring. Leading hospitals and health systems are demonstrating how P5G can enhance clinical outcomes, streamline operations, and bridge access gaps, especially in rural areas. These networks support high-resolution imaging, facilitate efficient hospital logistics, and equip staff with augmented and virtual reality tools, while also ensuring data security and compliance. Although early use cases highlight significant gains in efficiency, productivity, and patient experience, P5G adoption is not yet widespread due to high costs, technical complexity, interoperability challenges, and the need for specialized expertise.
Despite these barriers, the potential for P5G to accelerate digital transformation in healthcare is compelling. Overcoming obstacles will require strategic partnerships with technology vendors, investment in flexible, standards-based infrastructure, and a focus on robust cybersecurity and staff training. As more institutions pilot targeted applications and scale successful initiatives, P5G is poised to become a cornerstone of future-ready healthcare, enabling smarter, safer, and more accessible care for patients worldwide. The experiences of early adopters provide a blueprint for the sector, illustrating that, with careful planning and collaboration, private 5G can help health systems meet rising demands for quality, efficiency, and innovation in an increasingly digital world.
