Helium Expands Its Community-Built Wi-Fi Network to AT&T Subscribers

DePIN project Helium is collaborating with AT&T to bring its community-built Wi-Fi network to the telecom giant’s subscribers, according to an announcement

AT&T subscribers will now be able to automatically connect to DePIN project Helium’s community-built Wi-Fi network when they come into proximity of a hotspot through the latest integration from the telecom giant, the company announced Thursday.

As part of a new partnership, AT&T will integrate with the Solana-based, decentralized project to provide seamless connectivity for its subscribers in a move pitched as a cost-efficient alternative to traditional wireless infrastructure, according to a press release.

Mario Di Dio, general manager of network at Helium, said in an interview with The Block that AT&T subscribers will automatically connect to the Helium network when they come into proximity of a hotspot through the company’s latest integration.

“This is a commercial agreement between AT&T and NOVA Labs, the company that develops and maintains the Helium Network,” a spokesperson for AT&T told The Block via email. “AT&T will not be paying the operators of the Hotspots. Instead, the operators will continue to be rewarded in the same way they are today through the network's usage-based reward system.”

Helium has been viewed as one of the most promising real-world applications of blockchain, though the project has drawn criticism by some hotspot operators who were disappointed by their network payouts considering their investment in specialized hardware. The project’s reputation was also dinged after a report from The Verge claimed that Helium had overstated its relationship with Lime and Salesforce.

“Hotspot operators are rewarded for providing useful coverage and offloading data, further emphasizing the Helium Network’s decentralized, community-driven nature,” Di Dio said in a statement. “We believe the collaboration between AT&T and Helium highlights the real-world utility of crypto. The Helium Network has proven that crypto can be a powerful incentive in building out and deploying wireless infrastructure.”

Helium has formed similar relationships with Telefónica’s Movistar and other “mobile network operators” and “mobile virtual network operators,” according to the press release. Earlier this year, Helium Mobile, a service built on the Solana-based peer-to-peer Helium network, launched a nationwide plan in the U.S. providing users with unlimited data, text and talk.

The project, which was founded in 2013 to support internet of things devices, raised $111 million in a 2021 token sale led by Andreessen Horowitz and later an additional $200 million in a Series D round led by Tiger Global and the now-bankrupt FTX Ventures.

The network’s token, HNT, currently trades at $3.62 at time of writing, according to The Block’s price page. At its peak in 2021, the token exchanged hands for more than $50, in part due to the hype around crypto at the time and former association with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The project initially used a proprietary blockchain but later migrated onto Solana, a blockchain heavily supported by SBF, last year.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its case against Nova Labs after determining the project’s three tokens — the Helium Network Token (HNT), Helium Mobile Token (MOBILE) and and the Helium IoT Network Token (IoT) — were not unregistered securities.

The lawsuit was filed in January 2024, in one of the last enforcement actions the agency levied against a crypto project during former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s tenure. Nova agreed to pay $200,000, without admitting or denying claims involving private placement.