Vertical: Healthcare
Application: Connected ambulances with remote medical expertise, 3D modeling in surgery, connected surgical glasses, telemedicine
Ecosystem: Bouygues Telecom Business, Ericsson
Private Network: 5G
A multi-year project to deploy a private 5G network across Bordeaux University Hospital is positioning France at the forefront of smart hospital development in Europe. The initiative, known as 5MART HO5PITAL, brings together Bouygues Telecom Business and Ericsson under a partnership with the hospital to use 5G connectivity as the foundation for a new generation of connected care.
The project received €11.4 million in Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding from the European Commission, a signal of how seriously European institutions are treating hospital digitalization as both a healthcare and infrastructure priority. Bordeaux University Hospital serves more than one million patients annually and is already in the middle of a €1.4 billion construction and rehabilitation program aimed at overhauling its physical and technological infrastructure — making it a natural candidate for a connectivity overhaul of this scale.
The network architecture is designed to handle a challenge that is unique to hospital environments: the need to serve both a general public — patients, visitors, and clinical staff needing everyday connectivity — and highly sensitive, mission-critical private applications on the same physical infrastructure. The solution relies on the network slicing capabilities of Bouygues Telecom’s 5G Standalone network, combined with edge computing deployed on-site, to keep those two traffic streams cleanly separated while running over shared spectrum and hardware. Bouygues Telecom Business will manage the core network on the hospital’s behalf, removing the operational burden of network supervision from the hospital’s own IT teams.
The rollout is structured in two phases. Beginning in the second half of 2026, the network will be extended to cover 18 hospital buildings, establishing the indoor connectivity baseline that subsequent applications will depend on. From 2027 onward, the platform will begin supporting approximately ten use cases organized around four priorities: improving the experience of patients and healthcare professionals; raising the quality of care; strengthening safety and security; and improving performance, resilience, and training.
Among the first applications slated for deployment are connected ambulances that will allow remote clinical expertise to be delivered to patients before they arrive at the hospital, 3D surgical modeling for procedure planning and training, and connected glasses providing real-time visual guidance to surgeons during operations. Each of these depends on the low latency and high reliability that 5G Standalone makes possible — capabilities that prior generations of hospital wireless networks could not consistently deliver.
Ericsson’s role in the project goes beyond supplying the 5G core network. To meet the hospital’s data confidentiality and resilience requirements, the deployment will include Local Packet Gateways (LPGs) physically located within the hospital premises. These devices will be geographically duplicated across different locations within the site to ensure that no single point of failure can interrupt the network. The solution also incorporates the Ericsson Network Location platform for precise geolocation, operating outdoors via 5G coverage and indoors through a DOT system that allows the exact localization of staff devices and equipment throughout the campus.
Vincent-Nicolas Delpech, General Director of Bordeaux University Hospital, described the strategic importance of the work: “5G is a major strategic lever for the development of tomorrow’s hospital applications, directly benefiting both our patients and professionals. Bordeaux University Hospital aims to be a pioneer in this field and is delighted with the European Commission’s support for this technological advancement.”
François Treuil, Director of Bouygues Telecom’s Enterprise Division, pointed to the broader implications: “The specificities of the hybrid private 5G network are essential for environments hosting both public and private users, such as hospitals or airports. This project aims to demonstrate the socio-economic and environmental impact of 5G to drive large-scale deployments across Europe in various business verticals.”
Christian Leon, Head of Ericsson West Europe, noted that reliable, secure, ultra-low latency connectivity is essential for critical hospital functions such as telemedicine, remote assistance, and real-time data sharing, adding that the project reflects Ericsson’s commitment to advancing healthcare through innovative digital infrastructure. The three-year timeline is deliberate. Deploying connectivity across a live hospital campus with continuous patient operations is not unlike the challenge of upgrading a working port — you cannot simply take systems offline to make improvements. The phased approach allows the team to validate coverage and performance building by building before committing clinical workloads to the network. If the results in Bordeaux hold up, the partners have made clear they intend to use this project as a template for broader rollouts across European healthcare.
