An in-depth analysis of Mobile Network: the secret to viral coverage

Source: Gryphsis Academy

Abstract

1. Mobile Network is Helium As for the mobile network business, the DePIN track where Helium itself is located is booming, and the market space for radio communications is even more optimistic. The mobile network accounts for 70% of the annual revenue of radio communications and is the main source of market revenue. Therefore, from the perspective of development track, the track to which Mobile Network belongs has huge development potential and high profitability.
   

2. Helium will officially complete the migration to Solana in April 2023, reducing operating costs while relying on Solana's strong outbreak and Enrich the ecosystem and bring more user traffic and development space to Mobile Network. Among them, the airdrop incentives and Mapping mining mechanism brought by the Saga mobile phone of the Solana ecosystem have caused a continuous influx of users, which has also indirectly stimulated the user expansion of Mobile Network.
   

3. Mobile Network currently accounts for nearly 90% of Helium network usage. As of writing, users consume an average of $2K per day. DC to meet network usage needs. The current operational data is good, and despite the insufficient number of hotspots and insufficient rollout time with the IoT network, it can meet strong user demand coverage.
   

4. Mobile Network has the characteristics of low threshold and high coverage, which can stimulate the buying pressure of tokens and the participation of the supply side positivity, thus forming a positive cycle. $MOBILE is expected to be a strong driver in building user awareness for Helium.
   

1. Project Overview

1.1 Project Introduction

Mobile Network is affiliated with Helium, Helium Network is a The decentralized wireless network mainly has two main businesses: IoT Network ($IOT) and 5G Mobile Network ($MOBILE).

Helium delivers network deployment to users around the world (People-Powered Networks), providing open, large-scale global wireless network coverage for LoRaWAN standard IoT devices and cellular data standard 5G networks through Hotspot . Any user with an adapted hotspot device can deploy hotspots for network construction and obtain certain mining incentives.

Mobile Network is the mobile network service in Helium wireless network. Users need to purchase 5G Hotspot and connect CBRS Radios to achieve regional network coverage. Helium Network will incentivize these providers through $MOBILE tokens to expand the network Infrastructure is dispersed around the world in the form of crowdsourcing to build a powerful 5G network at low cost and with wide coverage.

1.2 Project details

2. Project details

h2>

2.1 Team

The team will reach a peak of more than 100 employees in 2021, with an average tenure of nearly 3 years, and currently has 11-50 employees On the job.

Abhay Kumar (CEO): 

Abhay has been involved in the Helium community since 2019 and released the first HIP in the summer of 2020. In the fall of 2020, he joined the Nova Labs core development team as chief product officer.

Scott Sigel (COO): 

Scott is Helium’s Chief Operating Officer and previously served as Senior Vice President at Silicon Valley Bank. Work closely with start-ups to support their growth, finance and management efforts. Also pioneering new projects such as API banking, service innovation and product design with internal R&D teams.

Amir Haleem (Founder):

Amir is the CEO of Helium Mobile and co-founder of Helium. Prior to joining Helium, Amir had a long career in the video game industry, serving as CTO of gaming startup Diversion and an original Battlefield 1942 team member at DICE in Stockholm, Sweden. Outside of work, Amir is a former world champion esports gamer and co-founder of the popular esports community esreality.com.

 2.2 Financing status

Helium has completed 5 rounds of financing, with a total financing amount of 253.8M. The Mobile Network subnet has no financing yet.

2.3 Network composition

2.3.1CBRS Radios

Helium 5G hotspot provides cellular coverage by using CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service). CBRS is provided by operators, and Mobile officially cooperates with operators to allow them to provide/support Mobile network connection deployment.

CBRS is generally divided into indoor and outdoor. The purchased hotspot equipment can be connected to the indoor or outdoor CBRS cellular radio station. After the connection, the indoor and outdoor networks can be provided accordingly.

Source: tecore.com

But the user needs to confirm, Whether the CBRS radio connected to your 5G hotspot has passed the certification of the operator partner FreedomFi, otherwise even if it is connected, it will not be able to provide Mobile Network network coverage and will not receive mining incentives.

2.3.2Modeled Coverage

Proof of Coverage, used to verify hotspot providers Whether it honestly and accurately represents its location, configuration and creation of wireless coverage. POC encourages operators to deploy in underserved areas and accurately report their deployments so users can see available coverage.  

In the early days of Mobile Network, 5G operators were rewarded simply for keeping their radios online. In order to make the network more reliable and available, Mobile Network introduced Modeled Coverage, a POC proof that is different from other subnetworks.

By introducing more data sources such as zoning and population density to achieve coverage effectiveness, and incentivize operators to deploy in important places. That is, using hexagons in Mobile Networks, the location and number of hotspots within a given hexagon are determined, thereby determining the location of coverage and providing incentives to radios deployed in the best locations.

2.3.3 Participation者

Mobile Network It is mainly composed of subscribers, mappers, service providers, hotspot hosts, hotspot providers and oracles. Among them, service providers, hotspot providers and oracles who want to participate in the network must stake a certain amount of $MOBILE tokens and receive staking rewards.

Hotspot provider: hold at least 50M $MOBILE; service provider: hold at least 500M $MOBILE. Service providers are allowed/encouraged to use the $MOBILE drain pool they receive to grow their subscriber base. Mobile Network is also giving service providers a 20% incentive on network $MOBILE emissions, thereby attracting users to participate in the Helium 5G network to earn rewards.  

Helium Mobile (mobile phone subscription service) is one of the service providers. Through an innovative mobile operator model, it incentivizes users to participate in network coverage construction and uses cryptoeconomics to reduce costs and increase revenue. .  

The following is a brief workflow of Mobile Network: Mapper is rewarded by verifying Hotspot operator coverage network for POC certification; operators will also receive network incentives after successfully passing the verification; Mobile Network is passed by Service Provider Operations incentivize more people to use the network.

Source: Offical Doc

2.4 Products and Services

Helium Mobile Network is Helium's subnetwork, focusing on achieving 5G network coverage. Users need to purchase 5G Hotspot and CBRS Radios to achieve regional network coverage.  

Mobile Network allows users to purchase exclusive hotspot equipment to provide the network. The equipment can be purchased through the large hotspot operator stores that Mobile currently cooperates with, such as Bobcat, Calchip, FreedomFi, etc., all of which provide corresponding device of.

If you want to use the Mobile network as a consumer, you can purchase a SIM card from a network operator such as FreedomFi to enjoy the Helium 5G network. The network fee is used by burning $MOBILE as DC (Proof of Traffic).

Source: FreedomFi Website

In addition, it has launched its own mobile phone subscription revenue service Helium Mobile across the United States, built on on Helium Network and launched on Saga (Solana blockchain launch) mobile. The wireless phone service, which allows users to earn crypto tokens through daily use, is currently being piloted in Miami.  

Helium Mobile subscribers can get $MOBILE rewards through "Mapping for Helium". The “Discovery Mapping” section allows users to understand which areas are covered through location sharing. Mapping can therefore be understood as empowering you to collect location information to enhance the Helium Mobile Network and help Helium discover ideal locations for deploying new network coverage. In return, users receive $MOBILE tokens, which can also be used to pay for monthly subscription fees.

Since the launch of Helium Mobile service, There are currently 7,256 online CBRS Radios deployed in the United States, and the total number of users continues to rise, especially since December. The number of new subscribers has risen to a new level since the beginning of December, with the daily average number of users increasing from dozens to Several hundred and remain stable, as of the time of writing, 37.6K users have registered Helium Mobile to enter Mobile's network expansion. Whether it is a single day, the past 7 days or the past month, the number of users of Moile Network is growing optimistically.

In addition, Helium Mobile uses eSIM instead of SIM cards, making it faster and more convenient to join users' daily lives.

SIM card is the abbreviation of Subscriber Identity Module. Simply understood, it is a phone card, which contains your phone number, identity certificate, location information, security password, etc. When you buy a SIM card from a telecommunications service provider, you need to purchase the service provider's service package. For example, when purchasing a SIM card from China Mobile, you can only choose from the mobile package.

The eSIM card is an embedded SIM card, which has the same function as the SIM card, except that it cannot be physically removed. Embedded in your mobile device, you can activate by scanning a QR code or manually entering your mobile network provider's information.

Source: astound

If you want to switch service providers, Users will also need to purchase a new SIM card. But eSIM cards are programmable, making it easy to activate cellular networks, add new numbers, and switch service providers without purchasing a new physical SIM card.

Therefore, Helium Mobile uses eSIM to reduce user operating costs and also allows the network to be quickly delivered and penetrated.

3. Development History

3.1 Major Historical Events

• On July 1, 2013, Helium Network was officially launched by Helium.Inc

• On January 1, 2017, Helium decided to use Blockchain Protocol

• On July 29, 2019, the first $HNT was produced

• 8, 2020 On March 12, DC traffic certificate was officially launched, and users and hotspots need to pay.

• On November 20, 2020, three mechanisms of issuance halving, net emission and maximum supply were introduced to maintain $HNT

• < p>On February 12, 2021, Helium introduced validators and the corresponding POS pledge mechanism to maintain network security

• On February 23, 2021, 1M $HNT will be issued DeWi Grant project

• On July 27, 2021, Helium network reached 100K global hotspot coverage

• February 19, 2022 On May 6, 2022, Helium.Inc changed its name to Nova Labs Inc

• On May 6, 2022, Light HotSpot was officially launched, transferring the data storage task to the verifier

  p>

• On June 8, 2022, Networks of Networks will be supported, allowing other networks to be deployed into the Helium ecosystem

• 2022 On July 13, 2022, Helium Mobile Network was turned on to achieve 5G network coverage and $MOBILE mining

• On September 20, 2022, and T -Mobile cooperated with US telecom service provider giants to launch a US pilot

• On September 26, 2022, the HIP70 proposal was passed and it was decided to migrate to the Solana network

• On April 18, 2023, Helium Network officially completed the migration

• December 6, 2023 , launched the Helium Mobile phone package subscription service

• On January 25, 2024, it reached a cooperation with Telefónica telecommunications service provider to deploy hotspots in Mexico< /p>

3.2 Current Situation Analysis

3.2.1 Network Usage strong>

According to the Helium Hotspots Map, on December 20, 2023, the Helium network currently had 4,237 active 5G hotspots. At present, hotspot operators are mainly concentrated in the United States, Europe, and parts of China.  

In the past month, Helium's daily average network usage has been on an upward trend. On average, about 12K worth of DC can be consumed a day for network use; nearly 80% of the DC consumed is through burning $HNT (Helium Network native token) is obtained, and the burning ratio of $MOBILE and $IOT to DC is not high.  

However, the burning amount of $MOBILE is still more than 10 times that of $IOT. It can be seen that at the network usage level, the usage demand of Mobile is greater than that of the IoT network, and its network benefits (obtained DC) is more substantial.

From the perspective of Helium network use cases , Mobile Network's Utility Score (used to measure the $HNT each Subnetwork can obtain) is higher, so the $HNT emissions it obtains are also high.  

Mobile Network's use cases account for almost 90% of the entire Helium. The daily network consumption is about $2K, which is more than 5 times that of IoT. However, its active hotspots are only 1 /50. In comparison, Mobile has fewer deployment hotspots, but its network usage is very ideal.

3.2.2 support Coin address analysis

According to Solscan data, the number of currency holding addresses has increased sharply three times since the beginning of December, soaring from about 15K to 45K; active addresses account for the total The holding addresses are 5%; the top 10 addresses holding $MOBILE on the chain (all above 1%) account for 42.18%, and the remaining addresses hold 57.2% of the currency. The distribution of tokens is relatively concentrated, and whale holdings are large.

3.2.3 Cooperation Partners

Helium Mobile has entered into a multi-year partnership with T-Mobile, one of the important players in the 5G field in the United States, in 2022, marking its The importance of mobile networks. At the same time, wireless network providers such as FreedomFi, Dish, GIGSKY, Bobcat, Mosolabs, etc. have also participated in the construction of Helium Mobile Network to provide network coverage.

In addition, suppliers such as FreedomFi have launched the Helium 5G series of products to help users better connect and use the Helium 5G network. Users can purchase equipment that meets standards to participate in Mobile Network's network construction.

On January 25, the world’s leading Telefónica, a telecommunications service provider, announced that it is partnering with Nova Labs to deploy Helium Mobile hotspots in Mexico City and Oaxaca. The hotspots utilize the cryptocurrency-based Helium 5G network and Telefónica will offload its mobile data traffic to Helium Mobile and expand its coverage in Mexico.

Telefónica is currently the first major wireless carrier to offer Helium Mobile hardware directly in Mexico, and the company claims to have approximately 383 million customers in Europe and Latin America.

It can be seen that from the United States to Mexico, Helium Mobile Network is constantly moving into the international market and expanding its business territory. And since every service provider and hotspot operator participating in the Mobile network needs to pledge a high amount of $MOBILE, it is also suppressing the circulation of tokens in disguise, thereby effectively stabilizing/raising the currency price.

4. Economic Model

The original token of Helium network is $HNT, the native token of Helium’s subnet IOT Network is $IOT, and the native token of subnet Mobile Network is $MOBILE.  

The Helium subnet tokens will be supported by $HNT as above, so the Helium mainnet will allocate a certain amount of $HNT based on the Utility Score of each subnet. Both $IOT and $MOBILE can be used in Helium Exchange to $HNT on Wallet.

 4.1Data Credits

Data Credits (DC, traffic points) is a fuel token anchored to the US dollar. The price of 1 DC will be constant at 0.00001 US dollars. Can only be obtained by burning $HNT and cannot be transferred.

Usage scenario Data Credits:

1. Add hotspot: 4,000,000 DCs are required

< li>

Execute Add Hotspot Transaction Fee: 65,000 DC

2. Assertion Location: 1,000,000 DC

3. Execute Assertion Location transaction fee: 70,000 DC

All transactions will be on-chain and require DC to be consumed. When the user needs it, the wallet will automatically burn equivalent network native tokens. Generate a DC and use it.  

Network native tokens mainly provide value for roles on the Supply side of the network, and DC provide value for the Demand consumption side of the network.

Why not directly use native tokens such as $MOBILE as tokens for network consumption, thereby expanding the consumption scenarios of tokens?

The following is my personal understanding: when the market goes down and native tokens are used as consumption tokens, it is likely that the circulation of tokens is large and the demand level is small, resulting in a decline in token prices; price The decline leads to a gradual decrease in the revenue of network operators, which dampens participation enthusiasm; when operators continue to lose, network coverage and maintenance gradually decline, products and services cannot meet the needs of users, and the demand side gradually slumps, leading to further price declines, thus forming a vicious cycle.

However, since the single price of DC is stable, even if the above-mentioned market decline occurs, both the Supply side and the Demand side can exchange tokens for DC to maintain the value of the asset and even achieve arbitrage. For example, when the market is down, DC is converted into a large amount of $MOBILE, and then converted into DC when the price recovers. It is equivalent to acting as a stable currency, thereby effectively reducing the negative effects caused by changes in market conditions.

Users of IoT and Mobile networks need to exchange $IOT and $MOBILE tokens into $HNT in the Helium Wallet App, and then burn $HNT to exchange for DC, $MOBILE and other subnet tokens. There is no burning scene for the coin itself.

4.2 $Mobile

$MOBILE is the token of Helium Mobile Network, with a total supply of 230B. 50B of this is pre-allocated at Mobile Network launch. $MOBILE adopts an emission reduction mechanism. The specific rules are as follows:

$MOBILE’s emissions are mainly allocated to nodes that support POC certification, 5G hotspot holders, Surveyor (Helium Mobile), service provider, oracle and veHNT staker. All allocation proportions (temporarily) will not change with the reduction mechanism, and will be mainly allocated to 5G hotspot holders, with strong incentives.  

Main sources of acquisition:

1. Network participants: including hotspot providers POC coverage incentives, verifiers...

2. Helium Mobile: Mapping subscription service "Mapper"

3. Network pledge Rewards: Verifiers maintain network security and obtain rewards by staking $MOBILE

Main consumption scenarios:

1. Onboard Fee

2. Pay for Helium Mobile subscription: Pay directly with earned $MOBILE

In order to improve the Utility Score of Mobile Network, it is used to measure network usage efficiency and also determines the $HNT (Helium Network native token) emission ratio of each subDAO.

Onboarding Fees were officially introduced in HIP53, aiming to charge startup fees for each hotspot host, mainly including Hotspot Addition Fee and Assert Location Fee. In HIP96, Onboarding Fees were updated to be standardized for network participants. Entry fee structure, Assert Location Fee was abolished in HIP97.

• Indoor WiFi AP: Total Onboarding Fee ($20), consumption of 1M DC ($10 of $HNT) + $10 of $MOBILE

• Outdoor WiFi AP: Total Onboarding Fee ($30), consumes 1M DC ($10 of $HNT) + $10 of $HNT + $10 of $MOBILE

Classification according to the grade and type of different equipment to meet the expanding needs. At the same time, it further expands the consumption scenarios of $MOBILE, and also brings additional benefits to the entire Helium network, making the standards of all subnetworks unified.

4.3 Value Capture

In addition to the above-mentioned consumption scenarios of $MOBILE, currently, the main feedback benefit of $MOBILE to users is governance voting. Users can obtain $veMOBILE by staking tokens, and $veMOBILE holders can propose and vote for network updates and governance.  

$veMOBILE cannot be transferred. Governance rights are weighted according to the number and time of $veMOBILE locked by the user; a maximum of 4 years of locking can obtain 100 times the governance rights, and a minimum of 6 months can obtain 1 twice the governance power.



5. Track Analysis

5.1 Track Overview

DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network) is a centralized physical infrastructure network that uses tokens to encourage users to share their idle resources including space, communication broadband, storage, computing, etc. Wait to build the infrastructure network.

Traditional information and communication technology fields, such as hardware, software, cloud computing and data storage, as well as communication technology, etc., are monopolized by large institutions to a certain extent, resulting in increased industry barriers and competition thresholds for small and medium-sized enterprises. Too high is not conducive to the vigorous development of the industry.

DePIN uses the crowdsourcing model to allow any user with idle computing resources to participate in the construction of infrastructure. From the bottom up, it lowers the threshold while improving the breadth of services, and jointly builds physical infrastructure. network. Currently, DePIN is mainly divided into three major categories: computing & storage, software providers, and remote communications.



Mobile Network belongs to the DePIN industry Wireless Radio Track in Telecommunications. According to the Messari report, the wireless radio track is currently larger than the computing & storage market, with a compound annual growth rate of 30%-35% and no downward trend.  

Radio’s annual global revenue reaches 1.5T+, of which Mobile Network accounts for 70%. It can be seen that the development prospects of Helium's own track are optimistic, and its Mobile Network is expected to become the main force promoting the development of Helium.

5.2 Competition Project

5.2.1Pollen



Pollen was launched in February 2022 to build a go-to platform focused on privacy, anonymity and freedom. Centralized mobile network. Disrupting the traditional centralized mobile network model by empowering users to build, own and operate decentralized network infrastructure using blockchain, CBRS and other open source technologies.

The following is its workflow:



Network participants are mainly divided into the following parts:

1. End users ("Birds"): End users use Devices, such as phones, can be connected through the Pollen network. CBRS-compatible devices can download the Pollen eSIM or purchase a SIM card to become a Bird and connect to the Pollen network.

2. Validators ("Bees"): Bees validate network coverage for Pollen and other networks by moving in the physical world and reporting coverage statistics, equivalent to a POC proof.

3. Network Providers (“Flowers”): Flowers provide network coverage via base stations/antennas and are incentivized by $PCN tokens.

$PCN, the native token of the Pollen Mobile network, has a total supply of 1 billion and is mainly used for the following purposes:

1) Within the Pollen network Payment (such as data subscription, hardware purchase, etc.)

2) Reward Flower owners who provide network coverage

3) Reward validators to verify Flower coverage

< p>4) Reward end users for using the network 

Business classification & business model:

1. Pollen Mobile Hybrid Network Operator (“MHNO”): centralized RAN deployment in areas where existing mobile network operators (“MNOs”) lack coverage; combined with RAN deployment of fixed radio and public/private networks; commercialization using existing MNOs The agreement introduces better services.

2. Fixed Wireless Access/Wireless Internet Services: Pollen will make it easy and affordable for anyone to deploy wireless Internet access. Once deployed, Pollen installations utilizing CBRS (and other mobile bands) will also be able to support mobile services such as Pollen MHNO.

3. Public/Private Hybrid Network: Pollen      Designed to enable anyone - from individuals, to small and medium-sized businesses, to the largest enterprises - to Deploy private networks affordably.

4. Pollen MHNO: Billed to MNOs and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (“MVNOs”).

 5.2.2xNET



XNET is deployed on Polygon and uses blockchain technology, CBRS and network operator communities to bring true mobility to consumers and enterprises Wireless 5G connection. XNET will leverage CBRS and any other available radio spectrum to modernize 4G and 5G wireless networks, owning and operating XNET’s wireless network infrastructure in the form of crypto rewards.

Unlike Helium and other CBRS radio competitors, XNET will provide a full-service voice and data network, operating as a true mobile network operator. In the simplified diagram below, you can see three different types of XNET network nodes and a collection of network clients, including clients that act as XNET network validators, coordinating individual nodes through a public blockchain to act as a mobile network.



There are two types, native tokens $XNET (the total supply is capped at 24 Billion), network payment token $XNETD

1. $XNET: the total supply is capped at 24 Billion, mainly Used as an incentive node and validator for network maintenance

2. $XNETD: can only be obtained through $XNET conversion. By burning existing $XNET, users can pay network interaction fees. Such as data or voice service fees

5.2.3 Comparison Summary

Us A simple comparison was made between the three. Mobile and Pollen are both deployed on Solana, while xNET is deployed on Polygon. Solana is currently in the leading position on the DePIN track; Mobile Network has rich business lines, in addition to basic 5G Mobile network connections, as well as additional collection subscription services and other Service Providers accelerate network coverage and usage.

Pollen’s token not only incentivizes network contributors, but also incentivizes network users, including the network usage fee that users need to pay, which is also $PCN. It is more special. Helium and XNET both use second tokens as Online payment medium. Looking at network usage data, Mobile Network still dominates, with its hotspot operators and network usage far surpassing its competitors.



6. Conclusion, risk warning

Advantages:

1. Solana ecological bonus: The current strong momentum of Solana ecosystem has brought many bonuses to Helium. For example, Solana’s Saga mobile phone has become more and more popular. The more project parties provide airdrops to users with mobile phones, further increasing purchase demand. While users continue to grow, it also expands the number of Mobile Network users.

2. Mobile network has low barriers to use and fast coverage efficiency, and it involves very rigid needs in people's daily lives. Therefore, although the Mobile network was launched later than the IoT network, the current network usage requirements have far exceeded the IoT. Mobile Network has undoubtedly become a strong promoter of Helium in building user awareness.

3. Rich ecological partners: Establishing partnerships with many leading operators to quickly achieve business deployment and expansion is conducive to consolidating the industry position in advance.

4. Helium completed the proof-of-concept of DePIN in the last cycle and learned experience through many pitfalls. It is expected to step on the "stone" in the new cycle Get new growth.

Disadvantages: 

1. Many equipment restrictions raise the threshold for participation : In Helium, users do not contribute to the network through their own idle resources, but need to purchase equipment that meets standards to participate. This also led to a certain period when the price of equipment was very high and the costs for operators continued to increase.

2. There are regulatory risks: Since different blockchain networks are affected by different regulatory policies, Helium's migration to the Solana network may bring new regulatory risks and laws Require.