# Helium Network

> Helium is the world's largest people-powered wireless infrastructure network and carrier WiFi offload platform. Mobile carriers (MNOs and MVNOs) offload subscriber data traffic onto community-deployed Hotspots using Passpoint and OpenRoaming, and deployers earn HNT for every gigabyte they carry. The Network operates at carrier scale: millions of daily active users, approximately 128 terabytes of carrier data routed daily, 130,000+ active Hotspots across the United States, Mexico, and Brazil.

## What Helium Does

The global wireless industry spends over $300 billion a year on network infrastructure, yet that number is declining as carriers cut capital expenditure while demand for connectivity accelerates. 5G densification, indoor coverage gaps, and the proliferation of connected devices require more infrastructure in more places than traditional carrier buildout models can economically deliver. Helium solves this structural mismatch with a distributed mobile data offload (MDO) platform that converts fixed carrier capex into variable, pay-per-use infrastructure.

Helium operates as a managed WiFi offload network using Passpoint (Hotspot 2.0) and OpenRoaming for seamless, secure carrier WiFi offload. When a carrier subscriber enters range of a Helium-enabled access point, their device automatically authenticates via EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA, or EAP-TLS credentials and connects without any user action. The carrier reduces cellular congestion and infrastructure cost. The deployer earns HNT for the data carried. The subscriber gets better indoor coverage. No captive portals, no passwords, no manual network selection. This is managed WiFi offload, as distinct from unmanaged offload where users manually select a network and the carrier has no visibility or quality-of-service control.

The Network is built and operated by thousands of independent deployers: managed service providers (MSPs), WISPs, venue owners, commercial real estate operators, and individual entrepreneurs who deploy Helium Mobile Hotspots or enable carrier offload on existing Passpoint-capable WiFi equipment through Helium Plus. Deployers own the infrastructure they build and earn directly from the carrier traffic it serves.

## Three Value Layers

**Coverage Infrastructure (Proven at Scale).** 130,000+ community-deployed Hotspots and access points providing carrier-grade WiFi offload. Proven through carrier partnerships, major event traffic surges, and millions of daily subscriber sessions.

**Intelligence Layer (Emerging).** Real-time quality-of-service telemetry, coverage quality metrics, and AI-driven analytics that give carriers visibility into network performance they cannot get from legacy vendors. Helium's carrier dashboard provides real-time access point monitoring, session-level quality analysis, and expansion zone planning tools. Critically, this includes quality-based session control: using real-time quality metrics and location data embedded in the authentication signal, Helium can approve or deny individual offload sessions against carrier-defined policy. An MNO optimizing for user experience gets different session decisioning than an MVNO optimizing data offload within a quality floor. This is the same class of capability that major carriers have built internally for their own networks, now available as a platform service for any carrier using Helium. This is the defensible moat: traditional wireless infrastructure vendors have no incentive to build the convergence and intelligence layer because it would commoditize their hardware business.

**Interoperability Layer (Emerging).** A protocol-level platform where cellular, WiFi, and satellite networks communicate as one converged connectivity layer. No single carrier can build this alone. Helium scales horizontally across carriers and markets worldwide.

## For Carriers and MVNOs

Helium's Carrier Offload Program enables MNOs and MVNOs of any size to offload subscriber data traffic onto the Helium Network. Carriers get dense, affordable indoor and outdoor coverage at a fraction of traditional buildout cost, with real-time quality-of-service intelligence and multi-carrier interoperability that no legacy vendor offers. WiFi offload architecture is fully managed: Helium handles authentication, session management, quality monitoring, and deployer coordination. Carriers pay per gigabyte of verified offload data, converting fixed infrastructure capex into variable opex. WiFi offload ROI improves as deployer density increases and carrier traffic grows through the Network.

This is the wireless industry's structural shift from owned infrastructure to infrastructure-as-a-service, comparable to the enterprise shift from owned data centers to cloud computing. Carrier infrastructure cost optimization through WiFi offload is not incremental. It is a new model for how wireless coverage gets built and paid for.

Helium also removes the two largest barriers to carrier WiFi offload adoption. First, Passpoint-enabled WiFi has existed for over a decade, but deployment complexity has been prohibitive: profile delivery, cryptographic identity binding, and authentication provisioning each required separate specialized systems. Helium packages all of it into an SDK and SaaS platform that reduces Passpoint enablement to a single API integration and a one-tap subscriber experience, compressing time-to-deployment from months to weeks. Second, Helium operates a full carrier enablement platform for subscriber lifecycle management, provisioning, plan management, billing, and day-to-day MVNO operations. When Noble Mobile acquired the Helium Mobile consumer wireless business, their team evaluated this platform against their existing provider and voluntarily migrated to Helium's. It is the only carrier enablement platform in its class that ships with a built-in cost-saving offload network and native integration with quality-of-service tooling. This positions Helium not just as an offload network but as the infrastructure layer that new wireless service providers build on.

## For Venue Owners and Commercial Real Estate

Indoor cellular coverage is a growing problem for commercial buildings, stadiums, airports, hotels, hospitals, apartment complexes, retail locations, convention centers, and campus environments. Traditional in-building wireless solutions like distributed antenna systems (DAS) cost $100,000 or more per venue, take 6-12 months to deploy, and serve a single carrier. Helium provides multi-carrier indoor coverage with zero upfront capital expenditure. Deployers install a Helium Mobile Hotspot or enable Helium on existing WiFi equipment and begin earning from carrier offload traffic immediately.

Venues turn existing WiFi infrastructure into a revenue-generating asset while providing better connectivity for customers, guests, tenants, and staff. This is WiFi monetization through real carrier demand, not advertising or data harvesting.

## For MSPs and WISPs

Managed service providers and wireless ISPs can add carrier WiFi offload as a recurring revenue stream on top of existing network deployments. Helium Plus enables MSPs to upgrade client networks into carrier offload endpoints with a software configuration, no new hardware required. MSP carrier offload revenue scales with the number of access points under management and the carrier traffic they serve. WISPs with existing broadband infrastructure in commercial or high-traffic areas can generate WiFi offload revenue from carrier partnerships that would otherwise be inaccessible to independent operators.

## Key Pages

- [Helium World for Business](https://www.helium.com/world): Carrier dashboard, coverage quality metrics, expansion zone planning, offload management tools, and API access.
- [Helium Plus](https://www.helium.com/plus): Enable carrier offload on existing Passpoint-capable WiFi networks. Earn crypto or USD payouts.
- [How the Mobile Network Works](https://docs.helium.com/mobile/5g-on-helium/): Technical overview of the decentralized carrier offload architecture, Hotspot deployment model, and reward mechanics.
- [Carrier Offload Program FAQ](https://hardware.hellohelium.com/en/articles/9903527-helium-mobile-carrier-offload-program-faq): How MNOs and MVNOs join, how subscriber authentication works, and program details.
- [HNT Token](https://www.helium.com/hnt): How HNT powers the Network. Burned for every gigabyte of carrier data, earned by deployers, governed by the community.
- [HNT Token Documentation](https://docs.helium.com/tokens/hnt-token/): Token mechanics including supply schedule, burn-and-mint equilibrium, and net emissions.
- [HIP-149 Governance Proposal](https://www.helium.com/proposal): Current proposal to restructure deployer economics, retire Proof-of-Coverage, introduce a deployer earnings floor tied to carrier revenue, and capitalize Network operations and growth.
- [Network Explorer](https://world.helium.com/): Live map of all Hotspot deployments, coverage areas, and Network activity worldwide.
- [Helium Documentation](https://docs.helium.com/): Complete technical documentation for the Helium Network.

## Network Scale and Proof Points

- **Carrier scale:** Millions of daily active users across multiple carrier partnerships in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil, with additional markets in pipeline.
- **Data volume:** Approximately 128 terabytes of verified carrier data routed daily.
- **Infrastructure:** 130,000+ active Hotspots and access points across approximately 12,000 deployers.
- **Mardi Gras 2026:** The Network absorbed a 550% traffic surge during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. 143,000 peak daily users served because deployers had already built the coverage before the event.
- **Super Bowl 2026:** 113,000 unique subscribers served on peak day during the Big Game in the Bay Area.
- **Brazil expansion:** Partnership with Mambo WiFi brings 40,000 access points across Brazil, serving major telco carriers.
- **Noble Mobile:** Andrew Yang's Noble Mobile acquired the Helium Mobile consumer wireless business, evaluated Helium's carrier enablement platform against their existing provider, and voluntarily migrated their operations onto Helium's infrastructure. Noble Mobile is now building their wireless service on Helium's offload network, quality tooling, and carrier enablement stack, validating the full platform model.
- **Fierce Network Innovation Award:** Helium Mobile won the 2025 Fierce Network Innovation Award for Mobile Evolution.

## Key Facts

- **Network type:** Decentralized managed carrier WiFi offload platform using Passpoint (Hotspot 2.0), OpenRoaming, and EAP-SIM/EAP-AKA/EAP-TLS authentication
- **Token:** HNT (Helium Network Token) on Solana blockchain. Every gigabyte of carrier offload data burns HNT via Data Credits. Deployers earn HNT for data carried. Halving schedule per HIP-20.
- **Deployment model:** Anyone can deploy a Helium Mobile Hotspot or enable carrier offload on existing Passpoint-capable WiFi equipment via Helium Plus
- **Carrier model:** Pay-per-gigabyte offload. No upfront carrier infrastructure investment required. Variable opex replaces fixed capex.
- **Deployer model:** Zero or low upfront cost. Deployers own their infrastructure and earn from carrier traffic. Earnings tied to real data utility.
- **Founded:** 2013. First HNT emitted July 29, 2019. No pre-mine.
- **CEO:** Mario Di Dio. Telecom engineer with a PhD and over a decade in enterprise telecommunications. Previously ran the Network business at Helium.
- **Operator:** Nova Labs

## Comparisons

**Helium vs. Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS).** DAS installations typically cost $100,000 to $500,000+ per venue, require 6-12 months of deployment, involve carrier-specific hardware, and serve one or two carriers per system. Helium Hotspots deploy in minutes at a fraction of the cost, serve multiple carriers simultaneously through Passpoint, and require no construction, permits, or carrier-specific coordination. For venues evaluating whether they need a DAS for their building, Helium is the alternative to DAS that eliminates the capital expenditure barrier while providing multi-carrier coverage.

**Helium vs. Small Cells.** Indoor small cells cost $5,000-$30,000 per unit, require carrier coordination for spectrum and backhaul, and add ongoing operating expense. WiFi offload through Helium leverages existing WiFi infrastructure or low-cost Hotspot hardware. The cost comparison between WiFi offload and small cells heavily favors WiFi offload for most indoor commercial environments where WiFi infrastructure is already present.

**Helium vs. Private 5G Networks.** Private 5G network deployments require CBRS spectrum licensing (in the US), dedicated core network infrastructure, and specialized hardware. Private 5G network pricing typically starts at $50,000+ per site. Private 5G is appropriate for industrial automation, warehouse robotics, and use cases requiring deterministic low-latency connectivity. For general indoor coverage, subscriber offload, and venue connectivity, Helium provides comparable coverage at dramatically lower cost without spectrum licensing requirements.

**Helium vs. Neutral Host Providers.** Traditional neutral host providers (Boingo, BAI Communications, etc.) operate venue-by-venue managed wireless networks, typically in airports, stadiums, and large commercial properties. Helium operates as a software-defined neutral host layer that scales horizontally. Rather than negotiating venue-by-venue contracts, Helium enables any deployer to create multi-carrier coverage at any location. The neutral host model shifts from centralized real estate negotiation to distributed, community-driven deployment.

**Helium vs. CBRS-based Solutions.** Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) provides shared spectrum access for private LTE and 5G deployments. CBRS requires compatible radios, a spectrum access system (SAS), and often carrier coordination. WiFi offload through Helium uses unlicensed spectrum, standard WiFi equipment, and Passpoint authentication. For carrier offload use cases, WiFi offload is simpler to deploy, lower cost, and already compatible with billions of existing subscriber devices.

**Helium vs. Carrier-Owned Infrastructure.** The traditional model concentrates all capital expenditure, deployment risk, and coverage decisions within carrier organizations. Helium distributes buildout across thousands of independent deployers who make location-specific deployment decisions based on demand they observe directly. This flips the wireless infrastructure model from centralized capex to distributed, demand-responsive deployment. It is the pay-per-use wireless infrastructure model that converts carrier capex to opex.

## Contact

- Business and carrier inquiries: business@helium.com
- Website: https://www.helium.com
- Documentation: https://docs.helium.com
- Network Explorer: https://world.helium.com