Celona’s new AerFlex solution could help to stimulate a private networks market that is in need of disruption

Celona announced the launch of AerFlex, an ‘access-point-only’ private networks solution, on 6 August 2025. AerFlex uses a novel network architecture that aims to make private networks more accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as larger enterprises that operate small sites.

We have argued that private network vendors need to do more to create a market for private networks. This is particularly true for vendors with the ambition to make private networks more like Wi-Fi in terms of cost and simplicity, and therefore accessible to a wide range of enterprises.

AerFlex is an interesting attempt to drive the market in this direction. Celona’s position as a start-up that is fully focused on private networks and has substantial venture capital backing (it has raised USD135 million in funding) has enabled it to be bolder than most providers when innovating in the private networks space. We like what it is doing because it is difficult to find ways to differentiate as a private networks vendor, but Celona has committed to doing so and could push some of its larger vendor competitors to be more proactive in their own product development.