Celona has seen backlash over claims regarding its AerFlex private 5G offering.

Released this week, the product was touted by Celona as the first cloud-controlled access point (AP)-only private 5G solution on the market.

In a joint statement, Moso Networks and Ataya pointed to the Ataya Chorus, a private 5G AP product launched in January 2024, and commercially available as of May of this year.

Moso Networks, a channel partner for Chorus, brands the offering as the Moso Canopy Chorus Edition, with commercial enterprise outreach broadened through a partnership with systems integrator Fortress Solutions.

While acknowledging Celona’s AerFlex validates market desire for simplified enterprise 5G deployments without on-site servers, the firms claimed Celona’s characterization as “misleading.”

“Ataya Chorus, powered by Moso Networks, pioneered that exact architecture over a year earlier, with a fully deployed, commercially backed solution," the companies claim. "We urge industry analysts, media, and customers to distinguish between Celona’s marketing claims and the market reality."

Celona’s product promised modest-sized enterprises granular 5G control and industrial AI use without the need for servers and their lengthy deployment times.

Unlike the Ataya offering, AerFlex is aimed more at industrial environments, specifically in aiding automated operations in smaller and more distributed areas. Recent ABI Research has found that manufacturing firms are increasingly integrating private cellular solutions into their operations, namely in 4G LTE, but with 5G on the ascent.

In private 5G, both Ataya and Celona are positioned against telecom giants such as Nokia and Ericsson, and alongside networking leaders Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

Nokia’s private 5G network has been selected by the likes of Memphis Light, Gas, and Water, while Ericsson recently revamped its private 5G push, offering private 5G networking products that can support licensed spectrum and a neutral host offering that is compatible with all the major US cellular operators.

Cisco, meanwhile, partnered with NEC last year to advance its private 5G ambitions, building on its multi-carrier launch from 2022.

In addition, last year saw HPE aim to streamline the deployment and management of 5G private cellular networks through its Aruba Networking Enterprise Private 5G offering.

SNS Telecom & IT has predicted that close to 60 percent of the forecast $6 billion in private network investments by the end of 2027 will be directed toward the build-out of standalone private 5G networks.

Celona has been contacted for comment.