PHY Wireless and Ubiik Pair Private 5G with On-Device Positioning

PHY Wireless and Ubiik have combined private LTE and 5G connectivity with device-based positioning, giving enterprise and industrial customers a 3GPP standards-based alternative to proprietary location systems. The partnership merges Ubiik's private network infrastructure with PHY Wireless' hellaPHY technology on a single network.

The companies target utilities, hospitals, campuses and factories. Use cases include tracking assets, vehicles and equipment, improving worker safety and supporting physical AI deployments.

What does this change for operators and enterprises?

The answer lies in where the location calculation happens. GPS and Wi-Fi positioning struggle in warehouses, containers and factories, the companies said, and both can drive up battery consumption. HellaPHY calculates location on the device itself rather than in the cloud. Devices decide for themselves when a position update is required.

This design, according to the vendors, reduces network traffic, data costs and power use while enhancing privacy, because location data does not leave the device by default.

The system runs over standard LTE and 5G. That means customers can add positioning to existing private networks instead of deploying separate location infrastructure. The companies said this cuts deployment costs and simplifies operations. No new radios, no parallel system.

The performance claims

The vendors claim two headline figures. First, metre-level accuracy. Second, device power consumption cut by up to ten times compared with alternative approaches. These are vendor claims, not independent test results, and the companies did not publish the baseline used for the power comparison.

There is standards context behind the claims. The partners said the technology aligns with emerging 5G-Advanced, eRedCap and 6G sensing standards, which positions the product for networks that will carry positioning as a native capability rather than an add-on.

Executive positions

PHY Wireless CEO Tom Horgan said organisations pursuing physical AI and automation require location technology that can scale across thousands of devices at a manageable cost. He stated location awareness is becoming a foundational capability for next-generation enterprise and industrial applications.

Ubiik CEO TH Peng added the collaboration demonstrated how the company could adapt its private LTE platform to incorporate new technology and support changing customer requirements.

The word from both CEOs carries a clear commercial message: positioning is moving from a premium niche feature to an expected layer of private network services, and the vendors that deliver it inside standard 3GPP plumbing stand to displace proprietary location specialists.

Commercial reality check

No deployment contracts, customer names or rollout timelines appeared in the announcement. The partnership is a technology integration at this stage. The claims of tenfold power reduction and metre-level accuracy remain to be validated in live installations.

What is concrete is the architecture argument. Running location on the device over standard LTE and 5G removes the need for a second network, and that cost logic will drive evaluation in exactly the sectors the vendors name: logistics, utilities and healthcare campuses.

With 5G-Advanced and eRedCap standards work progressing, the partners are betting that standards-based positioning becomes a default requirement in private network tenders within the current standards cycle.