I know there is little info available, but what is the practical future here? Buying a $1-5k setup and then sharing your fast connection with neighbors? Or is this more an incentive for bars and coffee shops? Or is this a play for MVNO dollars?
To amortize $5k in upfront costs over 7 years, I need to make about $100 a month to justify the upfront cost.
The 5G play will start as a cheap means of offloading 5G data transfer to select MNO/MVNOs at a cost of $.50/gb, using the CBRS spectrum. $.50/gb is between 80% and 95% cheaper than the typical rates. The $.50/gb goes directly to the pocket of whoever owns and operates the helium hotspot. There are several MNO/MVNO agreements in the works, but until it goes live, it will be shrouded in secrecy. I take this $111M round as confirmation that things must be going well.
The magic is in the decentralized deployment model. Individuals can effectively become their own cell tower. This enables an effect similar to that of airb&b: you can sell 5G data out of your window (if it makes sense for you location), or strike agreements with SMBs for a profit share. Since this is CBRS spectrum, this is actually legal to do for the first time.
The helium token economic model is appealing as well. Every packet of 5G data transferred through a helium node places buy pressure on the supply capped HNT token.
I'm not even touching on proof of coverage which is more fuel for build out. PoC is an ingenuous means to incentivise build out before the demand catches up.
This is totally fascinating and I'm surprised this post didn't get more coverage on Hacker News. Thanks for explaining it so well.
Do you have any idea of what a typical setup will cost someone? Obviously, prices will come crashing down if this is popular, but is this looking like a $5k setup?
5G deployment would be on the range of $2-5k. $500 for the gateway and between $1500-4500 for CBRS antennas depending on the flavor. People in the community estimate you would have to move about 1tb a month at $.50/gb to break even.
Large indoor venues are the best opportunities since they are least served from the usual MNO macro cells. Think clubs, bars, coffee, food..ideally 24/7 foot traffic.
Congrats to the Helium team. They have proved that one can use crypto incentives to build meat-space infrastructure to great success. The Lorawan network they built already has 10x growth baked in based on preorders, and the first 5G launch in 4-8 weeks should see a similar growth trajectory in the US.
To amortize $5k in upfront costs over 7 years, I need to make about $100 a month to justify the upfront cost.