UNITEL Technologies France

Unitel Group partnered with Ericsson and SPIE to deploy a private 5G network for the City of Istres in southern France, helping establish Istres as one of the first mid-sized European cities to implement sovereign private 5G infrastructure. Unitel provided additional local support to ensure the network served critical communications, public safety and AI-powered urban solutions.

The Istres deployment reduces surveillance camera installation costs by more than 80 percent compared to traditional fiber-based infrastructure, while improving secure emergency communications and enabling edge computing for AI-ready urban security. The project is intended as a blueprint for other mid-sized European cities and plans to expand coverage to a nearby low-carbon industrial zone.