by Webbing Team
In our previous post, we discussed various ways in which cellular technology is helping revolutionize healthcare. But beyond the big picture, it is interesting to see how the technology is being implemented in modern clinics and hospitals in more detail.
Hospitals are increasingly adopting cellular networks, driven by the need for more reliable and scalable connectivity to support modern healthcare applications. Recently, some hospitals implemented cellular-first strategies: which means that a medical center prioritizes cellular connectivity, mainly through deploying private mobile networks, for its core communications and data infrastructure, instead of relying primarily on Wi-Fi or wired networks. Before this recent shift, hospitals used cellular technology for various needs such as staff mobile communication, but there was no integration into their information systems, and even integration with hospital workflows was rare.
It should be noted that such a strategy does not imply the elimination of other connectivity methods but uses cellular connectivity as the primary or more trusted backbone. Moreover, cellular technology complements and enhances them. Even in medical centers where Wi-Fi remains foundational, cellular connectivity is increasingly essential to overcome its limitations. In high-traffic areas, where Wi-Fi can become congested, 5G supports dense device environments and handles high traffic loads more efficiently. Cellular networks offer better security through SIM-based authentication and isolated traffic, reducing cyber risks. Additionally, they offload BYOD and visitor traffic from hospital Wi-Fi, preserving bandwidth for essential clinical operations.
Modern healthcare facilities use cellular connectivity to enhance care delivery and improve efficiency across a wide range of applications. Here are several of the most common use cases with real-life examples:
Communication and Patient Engagement
Many traditional hospital communication systems are gradually being partially or fully replaced with cellular-enabled solutions. DECT phone systems and landline desk phones are giving way to cellular-based VoIP and softphones on mobile devices. Two-way radios and pagers that are still in use in some hospitals are getting replaced by secure mobile alerts and push-to-talk apps running on smartphones.
Mobile networks are used not only by hospital staff. Clinics use cellular-enabled apps and kiosks to streamline patient communications: they can send appointment reminders or test results and enable digital check-ins.
A good real-life example is Austrian Gesundheit Burgenland which launched the country’s first 5G hospital network at the Oberwart clinic, with additional clinics in Kittsee, Güssing, and Oberpullendorf, and the headquarters in Eisenstadt following soon after. Cellular technology replaces traditional pagers and DECT telephony with a dedicated 5G network, ensuring secure, high-speed voice communication and alerting. The network is designed to meet future healthcare needs and supports applications like optimizing logistics, enhancing patient transport, and strengthening safety measures.
Connected Medical Devices and Other Equipment
Many medical devices, such as heart monitors, glucose meters or infusion pumps, use cellular networks to transmit patient data in real time to electronic health records (EHRs) and monitoring systems. This enables faster medical response and continuous oversight, especially in intensive care or post-operative units.
There are multiple examples of hospitals implementing cellular technology for connecting medical equipment, along with supporting IoT devices in other usage scenarios. Oulu University Hospital in Finland has launched Europe’s first private 5G standalone network as part of the Hola 5G Oulu project. The network offers seamless connectivity for wearable devices and enables real-time access to patient data. Besides, it ensures reliable communication between doctors and nurses. Hanyang University Hospital in South Korea also has integrated a private 5G network solution aimed to enable a real-time infusion monitoring service and support AI-driven CCTV systems in emergency rooms and waiting areas.
Connected Ambulances
Ambulances equipped with cellular routers can send patient data to hospital staff in advance. This enables ER teams to prepare before arrival and allows paramedics to consult with doctors via telemedicine during transport. While some hospital use cases could theoretically run on other types of connectivity, albeit with more complexity and cost, this one depends entirely on cellular networks.
The number of connected ambulance vehicles keeps growing: for instance, over 600 5G-equipped ambulances are now rolling out across the Delhi metropolitan area. With ultra-low latency and real-time data transfer enabled by 5G, these ambulances can transmit ECG and vitals directly to hospitals en route, enable remote consultations and telemedicine support, and use onboard cameras and equipment for real-time decision-making.
Connectivity Requirements
In hospitals, most applications that involve IoMT devices or even regular IoT devices are mission-critical, and therefore have very strict connectivity requirements. They may vary by use case, but each of the healthcare scenarios can be very demanding in one or even several criteria. Beyond technical performance, healthcare operates in a tightly regulated environment, where certain solutions must meet specific standards set by authorities, such as HIPAA. In these cases, connectivity isn’t just about performance, it can also be a compliance factor, making network design and technology choices even more critical.
Coverage
Large hospital campuses need strong, consistent coverage to support seamless communication and connectivity across multiple buildings and outdoor areas. In certain use cases that require stable coverage for a large number of devices that need to be connected simultaneously, healthcare facilities may set up private networks.
Latency
Hospitals need low latency to ensure that critical data such as patient vitals or alerts can be transmitted and accessed in real time without delay. It is important not only in scenarios like remote surgery or continuous monitoring of intensive care patients, where even small delays can impact decision-making and patient outcomes. Low latency is also essential for technologies like automated workflows that require instant communication between systems and staff. Technically, cellular networks, 5G networks in particular, are capable of providing lower latency in comparison to other connectivity methods. However, the actual latency would depend on the architecture of the operator’s core network.
Redundancy
Hospitals cannot afford downtime. Cellular connectivity provides a redundant backup to fixed-line networks to guarantee uninterrupted access to critical systems, especially in emergencies or outages. If the Wi-Fi or LAN goes down, cellular ensures that essential systems like alarms or patient monitors continue operating.
Scalability
Cellular networks allow hospitals to add new devices or services without needing to expand physical infrastructure. It’s particularly useful in use cases that include multiple sensors, trackers or cameras across a large campus – both IoMT devices and, for example, security setups.
Security
Most of the data that hospitals deal with requires the highest level of security. Wi-Fi networks often rely on shared credentials or certificates, which can be exploited or leaked, and providing public Wi-Fi access requires complex traffic segmentation to avoid disrupting clinical systems. In contrast, cellular connectivity offers stronger security through SIM-based authentication, enabling device-specific access control. Cellular traffic runs on separate, isolated channels from hospital LANs, reducing the risk of breaches, while private 5G networks provide carrier-grade security and encryption by default.
Webbing’s Solution
Webbing offers a connectivity solution that ensures global access to reliable and high-quality internet, with low latency and the best of class coverage. It provides secure and continuous internet connection for any stationary and moving devices – both IoMT and IoT – that hospitals use.
As a global MVNO, Webbing’s network of 600+ mobile operators guarantees world-wide coverage. It allows to roam on several carriers’ networks in every region, solving the problem of weak spots that any mobile network may have and ensuring full coverage and continuous connectivity even at remote locations.
Webbing has a distributed full core network with local breakouts, multiple network solution, and data server redundancy that provides connectivity stability and low latency. As such, Webbing’s network is well suited to support mission-critical, high-data consumption type of use cases. It also allows for compliance with all types of connectivity regulations.
Our eSIM solution ensures failover connectivity with the capability of using multiple mobile carrier profiles, easily changing carriers at any time with zero integration, and an option to fall back from a failing profile to a different profile without any need to communicate with a remote server or deal with multiple SIM cards.
A flexible approach to data packages allows us to tailor our connectivity offering for every customer based on the type of connected devices and their data consumption needs as well as the locations where the devices are used, aiming at overall optimization of the total cost of operations for the client.
Our solutions help healthcare organizations overcome their connectivity challenges and optimize costs for IoMT and IoT deployments, providing the benefits of roaming with multiple carrier options in every country, and seamless transition between carriers, while maintaining low rates and low latency on a global scale with a single SIM.
Reach out to learn how Webbing’s solutions can help you connect any type of IoMT or IoT devices, anywhere in the world.
