FireCell-Acceleran merger targets Europe's mid 5G tier

FireCell has announced a merger with private 5G firm Acceleran, alongside a €7.9m investment round. FireCell CEO Claude Seyrat will lead the combined business. The deal is positioned as a response to rising demand for private 5G deployments, particularly in robotics-heavy industrial settings and security-focused environments.

"This webinar is really about making an announcement: the merger between two companies in the private 5G space, FireCell and Acceleran. I am the CEO of FireCell, and I've been appointed CEO of the merged entity," said Claude Seyrat, CEO, FireCell.

The merger brings together two suppliers that have each built products for private 5G networks. Seyrat said the investment will fund integration work and the delivery of a combined offering. He linked the timing to increased customer activity over the last two years, with more requests and larger deployments. 

"During this merger we are running an investment round of €7.9 million to bring together two very complementary companies. We feel it's the right moment to create this company and build momentum in Europe," said Seyrat.

Private 5G has attracted industrial organisations seeking dedicated mobile connectivity for sites such as factories, ports and transport hubs. It has also drawn interest from defence and public safety organisations operating in environments where availability and resilience are critical. Seyrat linked much of the recent commercial pull to the growth of autonomous machines across sectors.

"We saw a three-times increase in requests for production networks every year. And not only did we see more demand for private 5G networks, we also saw demand for bigger and bigger networks. Average requests multiplied by five," said Seyrat.

Seyrat said most inbound demand related to robots and autonomous machinery, using the term broadly to include industrial equipment and mobile machines. He also reported a rise in security-led requests, particularly from defence and public safety, as well as from sectors such as mining and quarrying.

"Two-thirds of our incoming requests were driven by robots-industrial players using robots in one form or another. And when I mean robots, I mean it in the broad sense: big machinery, more or less autonomous machinery," said Seyrat.

Seyrat also outlined how FireCell and Acceleran see their place in a market dominated at the top end by large vendors selling multi-million deals. He said partners had highlighted a gap below that tier-what he described as "mid-market" deals under €1m.

"The market is split in several layers. The big players like Nokia and Ericsson are dealing with multi-million-dollar deals. Just below, there is a gap in the market to fulfil. We believe FireCell and Acceleran together can fulfil that side of the market," said Seyrat.

Partners and system integrators shape product requirements

Seyrat said the combined company set product priorities based on partner feedback. He described system integrators and robot vendors as key routes to market in industrial automation projects, and said partners wanted a complete solution with a single supplier accountable for delivery.

"Addressing the market must be done with, and in support of, system integrators or robot vendors. Our mission has long been to make life easy for our partners-have one single vendor, one throat to choke if there is a problem," said Seyrat.

He added that the product must scale and support deployments where downtime is costly and safety requirements are high. He cited throughput and latency as key measures, and said different industries prioritise requirements differently, increasing the need for configuration options.

"We are operating in situations where life is at risk and where production downtime is immensely costly. For that reason we needed a solution that can scale and provide the highest possible KPI performance and reliability," said Seyrat.

Acceleran's technology includes a radio access network (RAN) software stack and work on RAN automation. Seyrat said the merger creates a combined supplier that controls multiple parts of the 5G stack, including management software and what he described as AI applications.

"By merging FireCell and Acceleran, we build one of the few that combine complete control of the 5G stack. By 5G stack, I mean the 5G core, the radio access network with programmability-RIC capability. There are very few players in the world who have that," said Seyrat.

Airport towing and offshore wind testing provide live deployment examples

The roundtable also included customers describing live and planned deployments. TowFLEXX Miltech is working on autonomous aircraft towing at Paderborn Airport in Germany. The company builds electric aircraft tow vehicles and wants to combine vehicles, sensors and private 5G networks into an autonomous towing system that can coordinate with wider airport operations.

"What we want to do is combine our TowFLEXX tow vehicles with 5G networks. Specifically, we want to create a TowFLEXX autonomous towing operating system," said Dr. Tobias Strobl, CEO, TowFLEXX Miltech.

Strobl said the system aims to move aircraft from gate to runway before engines start, with a view to reducing fuel burn. He said that kind of operation requires real-time coordination with other airport vehicles and stakeholders. He also highlighted the sensor data load from cameras and lidar, and the need for edge processing.

"Our vision is that our TowFLEXX tow robots take over and drive the aircraft fully autonomously from the gate all the way up to the runway, and only then would you power up the engines," said Strobl.

Seyrat said the Paderborn deployment moved quickly from installation to acceptance.

"On the Paderborn airport, it took two months to install and three months for acceptance-three months max," said Seyrat.

Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult described a private 5G project covering a working offshore wind farm and port area in the Humber region. The organisation works with industry and academia on testing and validation. Its representative, Nicola Robinson, described the project as a live testing facility for offshore technologies, including unmanned vessels and inspection systems.

"We've called it the Humber Portal-ports and offshore renewable technology. Lincolnshire, that's where we're based," said Nicola Robinson, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult representative.

Robinson said coverage includes offshore and port areas and can extend further with additional equipment. She said the facility is designed to validate technology in real-world conditions, and described the range of offshore wind work, including systems in the air, on the water and under the water, plus decommissioning and environmental considerations.

"Technology is in the air, on the water, and underneath the water. If we're looking at whether an asset should be decommissioned or not, we can't just decommission it. Everything has to be taken into account-it's not just a turbine," said Robinson.

Expansion plans and US activity

Seyrat outlined a European footprint across multiple countries and said the merged company plans to pitch a combined offering to its customer and partner base. He also signalled interest in international markets, while taking a cautious approach based on available funding.

"We have a sales office in the UK, Belgium, Germany, France and Poland. Over the next few months, our objective is to go through our 150 customers-labs, pilots, and soon bigger deployments-and our 60 partners to propose the joint solution," said Seyrat.

He also said the company already has US touchpoints, citing a Department of Defence procurement and a deployment involving hundreds of radios. He added that the company has activity in Asia based on a licensing and white-label model.

"We already have customers in the US. For example, the Department of Defence is buying RAN from Acceleran, and we are deploying 200 radios as we speak," said Seyrat.