Boldyn Networks has deployed a private 4G/5G network at Ontario International Airport (ONT) in Southern California, adding one of the US West Coast's mid-sized aviation hubs to the growing list of airports running dedicated cellular infrastructure.

The deployment gives the airport its own on-site 4G and 5G capability, distinct from the public macro networks that passengers ordinarily rely on indoors. Ontario International, located roughly 60 km east of downtown Los Angeles in San Bernardino County, Inland Empire, is one of the fastest-growing cargo and passenger airports in the US. Its operator, the Ontario International Airport Authority, has positioned the site as a relief valve for congestion at Los Angeles International.

Boldyn Networks — formed in 2023 from the merger of BAI Communications, Boldyn's predecessor, with several wireless infrastructure businesses owned by Australia's Macquarie Asset Management — is one of the most active neutral-host players in the transport connectivity market. The company builds shared network infrastructure that multiple mobile operators can use under commercial agreements, and its reference deployments include transit systems and venue networks in North America, Europe and Asia.

The Ontario International project fits that pattern: rather than a single-operator network, the deployment is designed as shared infrastructure serving the airport environment, where public macro coverage frequently degrades in terminals, cargo areas and below-grade spaces.

Why airports want their own networks

Private 4G/5G networks in airports serve two distinct constituencies. The first is the passenger experience: seamless indoor coverage and, on the 5G layer, the throughput that travelers increasingly expect for streaming, video calls and app usage while waiting at gates.

The second is operational. Airport operators use private cellular to connect baggage-handling systems, security cameras, biometric boarding gates, ground-support equipment and increasingly autonomous vehicles on the tarmac. LTE and 5G's quality-of-service controls and SIM-based security make them attractive alternatives to Wi-Fi for these mission-critical workloads, where reliability requirements exceed what unlicensed-spectrum networks can guarantee.

The US regulatory environment supports this trend. Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band gives enterprises and neutral hosts a licensed-but-shared access path to mid-band frequencies without the need to win spectrum at auction. Many private 5G deployments in US airports, ports and logistics hubs run on CBRS General Authorized Access or Priority Access licences. In parallel, the Federal Aviation Administration's push for airport modernisation has encouraged operators to invest in digital infrastructure, including private cellular, as part of broader terminal-expansion programmes.

The neutral-host commercial logic

For airports, neutral-host contracts shift the capital burden of in-building coverage from the venue to an infrastructure specialist. Instead of each mobile network operator installing its own distributed antenna system or small cells, a single shared network serves all of them — and the airport gains a platform it can also use for its own operational traffic.

For Boldyn, airport deployments extend a transport connectivity portfolio built on subway and rail networks, including coverage contracts in major metropolitan transit systems. Airports represent a natural adjacency: dense indoor environments, demanding operational requirements and a tenant population — airlines, retailers, concessionaires — that needs reliable connectivity.

Competition in a consolidating market

Boldyn is not alone in chasing this segment. Established distributed antenna system vendors, tower companies and mobile operators themselves all compete for in-building and private-network contracts at US airports. The differentiator for neutral-host specialists is the ability to deliver multi-operator infrastructure economically while guaranteeing the service levels that both carriers and airport operations teams demand.

The 4G/5G dual-generation approach at Ontario International reflects the practical reality of airport connectivity: 5G delivers capacity and device-class advantages for new operational use cases, while 4G LTE remains the workhorse for the bulk of passenger devices and legacy IoT equipment. Supporting both generations in one network avoids stranding existing assets.

What to watch

Ontario International is undergoing sustained passenger-growth-driven expansion, and the private network gives the airport a connectivity foundation that can scale with that growth — adding capacity, new operational services and, over time, deeper 5G capabilities as requirements mature.

The deployment also signals where Boldyn intends to compete as the private-network market consolidates: transport venues that need shared, multi-operator infrastructure rather than bespoke single-purpose builds. Expect further airport and transit announcements from the company as it works to convert its neutral-host model into recurring infrastructure revenue.