Europe’s Largest Private 5G Network Rises in the Alps

Connecting Energy, Safety, and Communities in One of Europe’s Harshest Terrains

In the remote Haute Maurienne valley of the French Alps, a storm had taken out the old radio link to a mountaintop hydroelectric plant. With no backup and no signal, critical alerts could go unheard — risking safety and operational downtime. These kinds of connectivity blackouts have long plagued alpine communities. But that’s changing with SmartMountain5G: a production-grade, fully operational Private 5G network blanketing the entire region.

Spanning more than 150 km² and going live in September 2025, this project marks Europe’s largest private 5G deployment by coverage. And it’s not a prototype — it’s a resilient, secure, and full-scale network, delivering broadband and IoT connectivity to power energy, safety, agriculture, and tourism operations in one of the most rugged parts of the continent.

A 5G Lifeline Led by Numerisat

Haute Maurienne lies at the bottom of the Arc River valley on the French-Italian border, surrounded by peaks over 3,000 meters. It’s a land of hydroelectric dams, pastoral farms, and ski resorts – all of which suffer when networks fail.

Numerisat, a French telecom operator specializing in satellite GEO and LEO broadband, 4G and 5G connectivity solutions, leads the SmartMountain5G european project from the CEF – SmartCommunities and Edge computing program alongside trusted partners. At its core is Firecell, selected for its proven expertise in building fully integrated, secure, and high-performance Private 5G systems tailored to demanding environments.

“Twelve 5G cell sites will be deployed between 1,200 and 2,300 meters elevation,” says Didier Flaender, President of Numerisat. “We’re connecting places that were off the grid until now.”

Firecell provides the entire private 5G stack — both hardware and software — delivering an industrial-grade solution that combines radio performance, core network integration, and secure edge computing. 

The 12 transmitters that under deployment, located at altitude between 1 200 and 2 300 m all along the valley will be connected thanks to Satellite links making the SmartMountain5G network the largest Private 5G Network and the first in the world to address the mountain areas.

With the Smartmountain5G project an impressive set of use cases will be deployed and tested, all concerning mountain economy and environmental consequences in mountain villages of the global warning. The local authorities of the village ValCenis, Bessans and Aussois as well as the public services providers and local farmers association are closely involved in the Smartmountain5G project.

Powering Remote Energy Infrastructure

The flagship use case for SmartMountain5G is to modernize how remote energy infrastructure is managed. Haute Maurienne, a major producer of renewable energy, is scattered with dams and micro-hydropower plants often tucked into inaccessible valleys.

Until now, checking equipment meant long drives or unreliable radio links. With 5G, engineers can deploy sensors, cameras, and drones feeding real-time data to a central dashboard. This allows constant remote supervision, instant alerts, and predictive maintenance powered by AI — improving uptime and keeping crews safer.

Beyond Energy: Smart Tourism, Farming and Safety

SmartMountain5G is designed to serve the entire mountain economy – not just energy.

Ski resorts like Val Cenis and Aussois will take advantage of the Smartmountain5G network to improve management and monitoring of the ski infrastructures and tourism flow using sensors, AI powered cameras, secured communication and also advanced IA solutions developed by SES.

MND Safety, a pioneer of non-explosive avalanche triggering, will now monitor and remotely control snow buildup proactively using private 5G. Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB) complements this work by operating a validation site, where real-world performance is measured and system behavior fine-tuned for long-term impact.

Thanks to edge computing, these systems can issue local warnings and activate preventive measures instantly—even if external networks are down.

Drones solutions will be also tested during the project to monitor the sites and detect events.

Additional use cases include smart agriculture, where 5G enables farmers to monitor livestock, soil moisture, and crop conditions with AI-powered alerts. Public safety is also transformed: connected services enhance wildfire and landslide detection, while ensuring secure, real-time communication for emergency responders in crisis zones.

To guide value creation across sectors, CleverValues works with the local partners as well as others Stakeholder to assess local needs and prioritize services that deliver the most impact.

Reaching Everywhere with 5G and Satellites

Rather than wait for fiber to reach every peak, the SmartMountain5G network uses a hybrid setup: 5G small cells combined with satellite backhaul. Each Firecell-powered cell site operates between 250 mW to 5 W in Band n77, with compact, energy-efficient hardware engineered for harsh alpine conditions.

LEO satellites like OneWeb provide high-throughput, low-latency links; GEO satellites back up remote zones. This ensures even isolated lodges and monitoring stations stay online, using a robust, enterprise-grade setup designed for continuity and security. A unique core network will supervise the network, located in Numerisat office and connected to the different Ran thanks to the secured satellite links.

An edge computing platform brings processing power closer to the valley. It runs AI models locally—analyzing video from avalanche detection cameras or processing safety data—without depending on a distant cloud. This ensures that critical alerts and operational decisions happen in real time.

Designed for operational resilience, the SmartMountain5G network features a centralized Network Management System (NMS), local edge processing, and a zero-trust security model, ensuring secure, real-time monitoring and rapid incident response.

As Didier Flaender puts it, “the goal was a secure connectivity available everywhere, easy to deploy, with better quality of service – something that simply wasn’t possible with previous technologies in this terrain.”

For Haute Maurienne, this deployment marks a new chapter: one where no alert goes unheard and no part of the valley is left disconnected.

📌 Fact Box – SmartMountain5G Project Overview

• Numerisat: Leads the project, provides satellite connectivity and telecom expertise, manages the Smartmountain5G deployment and leads SmartTourism and SmartAgri workpackages.
  
• Firecell: Leads Development workpackage and Supplies the entire private 5G network – both software and hardware.
  
• EDF (Hydrostadium): Leads SmartEnergy Workpackage and uses the network to monitor and manage hydropower plants remotely.
  
• Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB): Leads SmartSafety work package and validates connected safety system performance of the avalanche detection and triggering systems.
  
• CleverValues: Leads UseCases specification and communication workpackages and identifies Private 5G services with the greatest impact for the region and analyses the environmental impact of Smartmountain5G.
• Bessans, Aussois, Val Cenis, Bonneval Sur Arc: Are the local authorities involved in the project
• Region Auvergne Rhône Alpes: Is the Regional Public Authority that supports the project
• GIDA is the Haute Maurienne farmer association that is partner of the project
• MND Safety: Deploys the avalanche detection and triggering systems
• Mountain Cluster is the national mountain association of mountain industry and services with more than 150 members that is partner of the project
  

Focus Areas: Private 5G for energy monitoring, smart tourism, smart agriculture, and mountain safety
Network Setup: Twelve (12) Firecell Pegasus 5G radios (low-, mid-, and high-power) + NMS + satellite (LEO/GEO) backhaul + edge computing
Coverage: more than 150 km² in Haute Maurienne valley (French Alps), 1,200–2,300 m elevation
Go-Live: September 2025
EU Funding: Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) – Smart Communities (HaDEA)
Website: smartmountain5g.com
Operational Status: Production-grade private 5G network, going live September 2025