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Blockchain technology is getting tremendous traction in the world. Using this technology, we can connect people that the legacy telecoms networks haven’t economically and sustainably. Here’s how:
The Role of Blockchain in Telecoms
What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you think of blockchain? Bitcoin! That’s where it started. Bitcoins were transferred through blockchain before other use cases of blockchains were imagined and developed. And now, blockchains are disrupting the way transactions are being processed all over the globe; users are being authenticated and payments are being executed. What started purely as a peer-to-peer network of digital cash has now laid the foundation for a technology that has the potential to disrupt how industries work.
Telecommunications are a central aspect of our daily life; we are always connected thanks to our phones and superfast networks. How the telephone connects people hasn’t changed dramatically over the last 20 years, since the advent of the internet. Yes, a lot has changed and how we communicate through audio, video, and text over the internet. We consider the internet to be our basic right and we feel excluded and impaired if we don’t have access to it. But does everyone around the globe have access to it?
Nearly 4 billion or almost half of the population of this world is not connected to the internet. This is a staggering number because most things are undergoing a digital transformation. Banks, healthcare, media, and many more are all connected to the internet. So basically, half of the world’s population is just relying on the traditional network of these services.
Why is half of the world’s population still not connected?
Governments around the world are committed to providing universal and affordable internet access to everyone by 2030. Large telecom companies have invested trillions of dollars in the last 20 years to connect the unconnected by using new technologies. However today, half of the world still doesn’t have access to the internet. With the paradigm shift of most of the services moving online, these people lack access to basic services such as education, healthcare, commerce, or any form of digital service.
There are multiple flaws in the traditional telecom system that result in the inefficiency of operations. There are issues of transparency in the system, data privacy, immutability, settlement, and security. The current approach of mobile operators has meant that they have been unable to bridge the digital divide. A new study shows that some of the world’s telecom companies are still lagging, inadequately informing users about how their data is collected and managed. According to the 2019 Ranking Digital Rights report, there were some improvements from previous years, but the problems persisted around the security concerns of user data, disclosures around policing online speech, and how much authorities request to block content or to hand over user data. This report surveyed around 24 of the world’s biggest organisations dealing in social networks, data sharing, video and photo sharing, telecom services, and search engines.
Using blockchain in telecom can help solve the immutability problem, reducing fraud, and potentially preventing it. Blockchains even provide faster settlement and security, which traditional telecom systems simply failed to provide.
That’s where World Mobile Chain comes into the picture; they address all the problems present in the current telecom industry. Their solution provides affordable connectivity in rural areas that is sustainable both in terms of economics and also in terms of the environment. World Mobile Chain uses blockchain and introduces a sharing economy.
How World Mobile is bringing connectivity to billions of people in Africa & beyond
World Mobile, which is designed around the sharing economy, aims to set up the world’s largest mobile infrastructure. Their ecosystem offers solutions to the problems in the current business models, as well as affordable, universal, and fast connectivity.
African telcos have been in the midst of data transparency and security breach issues. In a continent where many nations either don’t have or enforce comprehensive data safety laws, there are legitimate concerns about how consumers should and could be protected. Africa has the lowest internet penetration rates globally, but improved digital infrastructure and rising smartphone uptake have made the internet a rapidly transformative tool.
World Mobile is planning to deploy its solutions in Africa and other continents to connect the billions of people that are still unconnected. Through its blockchain network, which is built on Cardano blockchain infrastructure, it provides a sharing economy model which incentivises its operation.
They propose a solution whereby they are looking to address issues of the global network operators. The current telecom companies plan to reduce their operational expenditures by 60% at a CAGR of 0.21% between 2019-2026. The current telcos are consuming energy in the range of 20-40% of the operating cost of the network. World Mobile solutions provide a lower power-intensive architecture along with a solar and battery solution to significantly reduce these costs and energy consumption. Hence, this solution is affordable, sustainable, and scalable for the rural population.
This not only provides the basis for affordable network nodes but also reduces operational costs like security, leasing, and maintenance costs. This shared economy leads to a self-sustaining business model, since node operators run small networks to earn rewards.
How WMT Works
With more and more crypto projects gaining traction, new tokens and coins are emerging in the market regularly. Most of the crypto coins are coming with new methods to earn rewards for their participants. Methods such as staking and yield farming are becoming a norm at all exchanges.
World Mobile Token goes a step even further. World Mobile Token (WMT) is a digital utility token built on Cardano’s blockchain. It is the primary currency of the World Mobile Chain infrastructure. The main purpose of WMT is to incentivise both token holders and the network participants that want to support the operation of the network by way of delegating their WMT stake to a node operator (stakers), along with the operators that operate their nodes.
WMT allows participants to provide various services on the network and also guarantees rewards for all the participants of the network. When token holders stake their tokens to run an EarthNode (operators) they earn WMT for securing the network, while AirNode (providers of the internet) operators will earn additional WMT for offering local services on the network. There is a limited supply of 2 billion WMT tokens, which will start circulating in a staggered manner. The transaction fee and the rewards for the node operators and participants would be denominated in WMT.
With altcoins creating a boom in the crypto market, WMT seems a viable investment with strong fundamentals. If you are a crypto investor or trader, you can buy WMT tokens and stake them to see your money grow!
How does WMT incentivise token holders and node operators?
World Mobile Chain incentivises both its token holders and node operators. Incentives for the node operators depend on which type of node they are operating.
Transaction Fees
Token owners will be rewarded if they stake their WMT and run an EarthNode or stake their WMT tokens. The aggregate revenues of the World Mobile Chain will be equal to the aggregate fees from the node operators.
Token holders can choose the node operators to stake their tokens and will in turn receive rewards. The node operators can compete with one another for token holders to stake their tokens. For this, the node holders must disclose how much they plan to charge per transaction. It would be beneficial for the node operator if more token holders stake in the node. The higher staking in a node would lead to a higher probability of a potential reward.
Inflation Rewards:
29% of its aggregate WMT supply is dedicated to inflation rewards. The initial rate of inflation is 11.41%, relative to the aggregate supply, and is set such that the WMT supply reaches 2 billion in a 20-year period. Meaning that inflation will reduce and eventually become zero so higher rewards at the early stage of the network. This ensures risk and reward balance for the stakeholders and the node operators.
Incentives for AirNodes:
The incentive for AirNode operators is linked to providing internet service in areas that do not have it currently. There are incentives based on how much time a user is spending on the network. The AirNode rewards are distributed using a stable local currency. AirNodes are classified according to the percentage of the service provided by each node, and their incentives are a proportion of the overall revenue of the country location of AirNode.
The rewards for each AirNode on the network depend on several factors. Firstly, rewards are earned by providing a service – for providing access and reporting back the quality of adjacent nodes. Secondly, rewards are earned based on the volume of users and traffic that is processed by the node. Finally, extra rewards are earned based on the Quality of Service measured using the metrics, as defined under the Node Quality Grading System.
Rewards for EarthNodes:
Earth Node Operators must stake a minimum of 100,000 WMT to participate in the network. The EarthNode operators are rewarded for producing blocks and committing them to the blockchain. These blockchains contain financial settlement of the different uses of services of the network and the metadata derived from it, such as Call Data Records (CDR). Secondly, they are rewarded for their participation in providing services to users of the network such as routing of communications traffic after deducting their operating costs. Nodes providing the routing of the call consists of two key nodes: origin node and destination node.
These two are performing additional work in the routing, as they are the ones responsible for voice encoding and decoding. The result is that all the nodes will be equally rewarded using the fee extracted from the user’s consumption of the service, except for those two, which will have a higher reward.
Conclusion
Needless to say, blockchain is here to stay, and we can see the rapid adoption and deployment of this tech by various industries. In this new era, everyone must have access to new and better communication technology. The internet is a basic human right, and anyone who has access to the internet will have the ability to connect online and gain access to digital banking, healthcare, education, commerce, and much more. Blockchain can be a game-changer in making the internet accessible for everyone and make everyone connected.
World Mobile Chain aims to connect the unconnected people through this technology. Their sharing economy can make this feasible, both economically as well as environmentally. They understand the business model and are bringing in solutions to reduce costs so that the internet becomes affordable for everyone. Plus the rewards and incentive system of WMT tokens can make the participants earn additional money too.
To know more about World Mobile Chain, visit: https://worldmobiletoken.com/
Hopefully, you have enjoyed today’s article. Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day! Live from the Platinum Crypto Trading Floor.
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