Tampa Electric Company (TECO), one of the first investor-owned utilities to deploy a private LTE network for operational use, selected Ericsson and OneLayer to deploy, manage and secure its growing cellular infrastructure, with Burns & McDonnell providing expertise on integration and engineering. OneLayer’s Bridge platform provides Tampa Electric with SIM lifecycle management, device onboarding, and real-time visibility into cellular-connected devices across its operational infrastructure.
Tampa Electric, an industry leader in private LTE adoption among U.S. utilities, built its Mission Critical Network (MCN) on Ericsson’s LTE technology to support connectivity for operational devices across its electric delivery infrastructure. The network is expanding to accommodate a growing number of connected devices in the coming years. Burns & McDonnell, bringing deep expertise in utility network infrastructure and operational technology systems, is responsible for aligning the deployment with Tampa Electric’s existing systems and operational requirements.
With the deployment in place, Tampa Electric’s operations teams can onboard and provision cellular-connected devices through an automated workflow, reducing the manual effort required to bring new assets onto the network. Teams gain visibility into devices behind cellular routers and CPE that were previously difficult to monitor, and can track device status, location, and connectivity in real time across distributed field sites. Network segmentation and geofencing capabilities give Tampa Electric control over how devices interact with the broader network as the infrastructure scales.
Key capabilities include network segmentation, automated provisioning workflows, geofencing, and integration with existing security and network monitoring tools. Tampa Electric plans to deploy tens of thousands of devices over the next five years, with several thousand targeted for the initial deployment phase.
“Tampa Electric has approached its private LTE buildout with a level of operational discipline that sets it apart,” said Daniel Bayouth, PE, Director of Networks & Wireless, Burns & McDonnell. “Selecting the right device management and security platform at this stage of the deployment is exactly the kind of decision that determines whether a network scales cleanly or creates operational debt down the road. Tampa Electric made that call early, and our job was to make sure the implementation matched the vision.”
Tampa Electric’s decision to address device management and security at this stage of its private LTE buildout positions the utility to scale its connected infrastructure without retrofitting security controls or provisioning workflows as the network grows. The OneLayer platform is built to support that model, maintaining consistent policy enforcement as new device types and field sites are added.
“Utilities making long-term investments in private LTE infrastructure need the security architecture and operational tools to support it at scale,” said Drew Ganther, VP Sales, OneLayer. “The work Tampa Electric and Burns & McDonnell have done here is a strong example of how utilities are approaching private cellular deployments thoughtfully, selecting partners and technology that fit how their teams actually operate.”
For Tampa Electric, this LTE‑based MCN approach enables a private, high‑reliability broadband platform for grid protection, field workforce communications and sensor connectivity, while preserving a clear evolution path into 5G as requirements grow over time. Ericsson’s MCN solutions are natively built on the company’s standard 3GPP LTE and 5G portfolio. In practice, this means MCN leverages the same LTE RAN, VoLTE and related core network capabilities already proven in commercial networks, with additional redundancy, security and mission‑critical features tailored for utilities and other critical infrastructure.
“By combining Ericsson’s proven mission-critical LTE solutions with the expertise of OneLayer and Burns & McDonnell, Tampa Electric is setting a new benchmark for how utilities can scale secure, high-reliability private cellular networks to support tens of thousands of devices and future 5G requirements,” said Dana Jaber, Head of Mission Critical Networks, Ericsson Americas.
