Revolutionizing Connectivity: The Rise of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks

Like other DI trends, decentralized physical infrastructure networks have grown this year.

Aggregate market cap for DM projects have increased by the billions, and the sector reaching over 1500 active projects worldwide, with leading chains such as Ethereum and Solano powering the majority of Din initiatives.

Helium Network has been a key part.

Deep in growth.

The network is seeing increased use from carriers like AT&T and Telefonica while its mobile subscribers have grown almost 300% year over year.

Well, joining me this morning to weigh in is Amir Halim, founder and CEO of Helium.

Amir, good morning.

Thank you so much for joining us.

So first and foremost, tell us why we're seeing so much growth in Dein in 2025.

And firstly, thanks for having me.

Deins are really kind of a fascinating construct, right?

Like you now have the ability for everyday people to participate in building these gigantic networks.

Whether it's for wireless in the case of something like helium, but we're also seeing things like GPU networks, mapping networks, location-based networks, and so it really flips the entire economic model of building these networks on their head because rather than having, you know, a single company or a small handful of companies building these networks, you're now putting in the hands of millions of everyday people, and that allows the economics to just be fundamentally different and I think that's why you're starting to see.

A growth and stability in that sector.

Yeah, and Amir, for viewers who may not be familiar, tell us what helium is doing when it comes to deepen.

Yeah, helium is one of the oldest deep ends, maybe the original deep end, but we are a decentralized wireless network, and the idea there is that everyday people like you or I can participate in building telecom infrastructure, right?

Like this is an industry that typically is owned and operated by gigantic corporations that spend hundreds of billions of dollars building network coverage.

And that has its ups and downsides, right?

The some of the downsides are cost, right, so especially in the United States building wireless networks just because of how big the country is is incredibly expensive, right?

So you're talking about hundreds of billions of dollars to build these networks, and that translates to some of the highest data prices in the world for, for US customers.

Um, the other downside really is coverage, right?

Like you can't cover everything, right, with something like 80, 85% of cellular traffic occurs indoors, and as you, you and probably everyone else watching knows, indoor coverage is still not perfect, right?

And so, Uh, what something like helium allows you to do is really put the network building in the hands of everyday people, right, so they are now able to install these miniature cell towers that we call hotspots anywhere where there are lots of people.

So that could be coffee shops, it could be malls, it could be arenas. we have coverage in airports now.

Uh, really, it just, it takes the network building part and puts it in the hands of everyday people who get paid for providing network coverage, uh, and really just flips the whole model on their head, on its head, allows the cost to be lower, and allows the, uh, coverage to be better.

So, I do want to ask you about subscriber growth over at Helium.

I understand that in September, Helium Mobile subscribers increased nearly 300% year over year.

So tell us what's behind this growth and a little bit about the user experience.

Yeah, so Helium kind of does two different things.

On the one hand, it's a network that anyone can use, and so some of the people using that network are companies like AT&T, Telefonica, and they use the network in areas where they have either poor coverage or they want the coverage cost to be less.

Um, the other side of it is we also operate a service called Helium Mobile, which is a subscriber cellular service.

Um, as you mentioned, it's grown to be over 50 million users in about the last year or so.

And I think people are really attracted to it for two different reasons.

One is cost, you know, because of the community built network aspect that we talked about.

We're able to do things like offer a free plan which no one else can possibly match and then you also get better coverage, right?

Like you're in areas where there is coverage now in places where you otherwise wouldn't expect it or it would be impossible to build it.

And so customers are extremely happy.

Like we have extremely low churn.

We're able to acquire subscribers very cheaply, and this number keeps growing.

I think we keep outpacing every major telco quarter over quarter for prepaid subscriber growth.

And I think we'll continue to see that happen as long as we're able to differentiate and do things that other, other, other networks are really not able to follow, and I think that all really comes out of this this deep end model.

Like without the deep end model, I think it's very, very difficult for anyone to compete in this space, you know, it's a very, very expensive business to be in, but deep in allows us to have a completely different approach and a different edge, and we're starting to see success with that.

Yeah, and Amir, finally, before I let you go, as we head into the new year, what are you looking ahead to when it comes to the future of Deepin?

What are the broader implications as well as vision you have for this for Deepin?

I mean, as it relates to helium specifically, I think you'll see us grow into new markets.

So we'll be launching in Mexico with Telefonica this year, which we're excited about in the deep end space broadly, you know, I'm excited to see some of the new applications that are coming.

I mean some of the most interesting ones I've seen are things like mapping networks.

There are GPU networks that allow AI inference to occur.

Geospatial networks.

So there's lots of like really, really interesting things being built in the deep end space now, and I'm really excited to see where that goes.

It's nice to see crypto applications that are just that are not just financial derivatives, right?

I think DI has dominated the crypto space both in mindshare and revenue share, but you're now starting to see Dins kind of creeping up there.

I think helium is about to enter the top 10.

Uh, in terms of salon, you know, application revenue, and so you, you're starting to now see a little bit of a, of a, of a, of a shift.

Uh, I'm excited to see what people end up building on this, uh, in this concept.

OK, Amir, well, thank you so much for joining us today.

We appreciate your time as well as your insight and perspective.

Thank you for having me.