Helium’s new CEO, Mario Di Dio, is not a fan of network status icons on smartphones because users should not have to think about how they connect or what type of network they use.
“I’m one of the biggest advocates that the icon for Wi-Fi should go away on the phone. … In the future, the user should not care if they’re connected to a satellite or cellular or Wi-Fi. The user should just be connected,” Di Dio told Light Reading.
Doing away with the Wi-Fi icon might seem an odd position to take considering Helium’s business is built on a “decentralized” network of Wi-Fi access points. But it illustrates a rationale behind the company’s latest move to start offering a connectivity management platform for mobile network operators (MNOs), mobile virtual networks operators (MVNOs) and consumer brands.
The company’s new HeliumOS offering, described as an “operating system for the business of connectivity,” is designed to not only extend coverage via Wi-Fi but also give carriers and MVNOs tools that unlock visibility and control of that connection.
Wi-Fi offload is not new, but it has not always been fully trusted by carriers because they could not manage the connection quality, he explained. With access to the new platform, carriers can “actively manage their offload experience,” he said.
The platform has five components, which service providers can pick and choose as needed. These include analytics, a Wi-Fi toolkit for building offload into mobile applications, a Wi-Fi offload experience manager and a BSS/OSS platform for MVNO enablement.
The tools give carriers the ability to control the service quality when on the Wi-Fi network. “That’s the new part,” said Di Dio.
“Now the carrier can decide at any given time, where should I keep [the user]? Should I keep them on the cellular network, bring them onto Wi-Fi, kick them off the Wi-Fi because the quality is not good? The active management has never been there for Wi-Fi in a converged fashion,” he explained.
The first customer for HeliumOS is Affinity Ventures, former US presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s investment firm, which owns MNVOs Noble Mobile and Helium Mobile. Affinity acquired Helium Mobile in June.
Helium expands with platform approach
Helium has essentially enhanced and packaged its platform for the Helium Network into a commercial proposition. By doing so, the company aims to open a new revenue stream and expand its customer base to more service providers and brands.
The Helium Network comprises 141,000 Wi-Fi access points, of which 40,000 are actively carrying traffic. It has between 1.5 million and 3 million users depending on the time of day. The Wi-Fi access points are deployed by businesses in various locations, such as coffee shops, shopping malls, casinos, airports (for example, Baltimore/Washington International is part of the network).
It is a pioneer of the model variously known as decentralized wireless (DeWi) or decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN). Enterprises are incentivized to deploy access points for the Helium Network by earning cryptocurrency – i.e., Helium Network Token (HNT) – or US dollars for the traffic carried on their Wi-Fi. A carrier pays Helium owner Nova Labs for Wi-Fi offload on a per-Gigabyte rate and Nova Labs pays the blockchain on their behalf. In this aspect, Helium is like an aggregator between the carrier and the enterprise.
Helium originally started as a LoRa (long range)-based IoT network in 2013 and the cryptocurrency model was introduced in 2019. Carrier customers include AT&T and Telefónica Mexico as well as MVNOs. Helium has around 1,000 access points in Mexico and it is expanding in Brazil.
Di Dio joined the company in November 2022 and took over as CEO in June after founder and CEO Amir Haleem moved into the chairman role.
“Our vision is a future where the carriers use multiple things to serve a customer. It can be satellite [direct-to-device] ,… cellular macro, Wi-Fi indoor, sometimes even Wi-Fi outdoor. We are providing … the control layer for the carriers to set up policies so that they can do that transition seamlessly, while maintaining their cost structure … as well as the quality of experience. That’s the novelty here,” said Di Dio.
