Decentralized Wireless Networks Gaining Steam, Experts Say

Executives from Helium and cryptocurrency company Emrit predicted a bright future for decentralized wireless networks, during a webinar Monday. Helium’s centrally managed IoT network offers more than 800,000 IoT gateways in some 52,000 cities around the world. Speakers said PlanetWatch, Dimo and Pollen are offering similar networks. “It’s commercial hardware,” said Alvaro Gracia, partner, Helium Funds at Borderless Capital. “There’s no real estate costs because people are placing them on their premises,” he said: “The blockchain automation makes the whole backend model very efficient -- you don’t need accounting departments, you don’t need a lot of processes.” Helium and similar companies are addressing “a problem that the IoT industry has tried to solve for a very long time,” said Pradhyum Ramkumar, Emrit head-IoT and 5G. Sensor data usage on the Helium network is growing 70% every month, he said: “The proof is in the pudding.” People are "finally realizing that there is a great, very low cost [long range] network available,” he said. “Very little capital was deployed by Helium to do this” with the costs paid by hosts, who are reimbursed by users, he said. Helium “laid the groundwork,” being followed by competitors, said Ryan Derouin, Emrit head-commercial. One example of the kind of network being built is a local coffee shop using citizens broadband radio spectrum, he said. “People need data, they’re in there streaming data … and they need the access,” he said. “The coffee shops want to drive traffic.” Carriers “can’t put a tower every 50 feet” as the demand for data grows, he said.