Designing and deploying a private LTE utility network presents challenges. This presentation reviews private deployment from two distinct perspectives, those of the utility operator and the user equipment (UE) vendor.

For utilities, like Evergy, these challenges span technical, regulatory, and operational domains. Factors such as spectrum allocation, network architecture design, legacy system integration, cybersecurity considerations, build and rollout all demand careful attention. As utilities progressively adopt private LTE solutions to bolster operational efficiency and security, UE vendors shoulder the responsibility of providing essential endpoint devices. The unique challenges posed by private LTE utility networks include unique private spectrum support, SIM choice, ensuring interoperability with diverse utility distribution automation (DA) equipment, addressing ruggedness and environmental factors, navigating network security and routing complexities, and aligning with evolving standards like 5G and aligned services such as GPON. 

By examining these challenges from both utility operators and UE vendors' perspectives, this presentation aims to offer insight into collaborative solutions.