- Firecell and Accelleran merge
- They are targeting smaller private 5G contracts than Nokia or Ericsson
- Firecell CEO said autonomous robotics will become a larger part of private 5G picture
France-based startup Firecell has merged with Belgian-headquartered private network business Accelleran in order to target smaller private network contracts. Firecell CEO Claude Seyrat told Fierce the companies are running an investment round of $9.3 million (€7.9 million) to help integrate operations.
Seyrat said the companies will target the “mid-market” contracts of $1.18 million (€1 million) or less that the dominant private wireless players aren’t so interested in.
“We see that the market is split in several layers,” Seyrat explained. “The big players like Nokia and Ericsson are dealing with multi-billion dollar deals and we saw just below that there is a gap in the market to fulfill.”
Seyrat said that together, Accelleran and Firecell can provide the equipment and full stack for private 5G. “Over the last two years, 2024 and 2025, we saw a really big growth in the demand for production networks of private 5G," the CEO said. He added that the companies saw the number of requests for commercial production private 5G networks triple over the same period and he hopes the trend will continue into 2026.
Seyrat also thinks that autonomous robotics – “or physical AI as some people call it” – is a very important part of the growing private 5G world.
Fierce has already highlighted some of Firecell’s private 5G wins. SNS Telecom & IT said that Firecell’s private 5G equipment has been deployed by over 90 clients across the U.S., Europe and Japan, including Airbus, Thales, Stellantis, ID Logistics, French National Railways, U.S. Army and the U.S. Department of Energy.
The merger is expected to close at the end of the month.