95: Why low-cost, low-bandwidth data will unlock micromobility's potential with Amir Haleem, CEO of Helium

This week Oliver interviews Amir Haleem, the CEO of Helium, about Peoples Network, which promises ubiquitous coverage and data costs of $1/year to connect a Micromobility vehicle. Oliver has been incredibly excited about what they’re up to for a while, and so welcomed the opportunity to sit down and unpack what they’re doing and why it’s transformational. Specifically, they dig into: - The history of Helium and the importance of permissionless innovation. - What is LoRaWan and why does it matter? - Why does Helium use blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to make their back end system function, and why is that largely irrelevant for customers? - How big the network now is, and how quickly it’s building out - Why this may well be the new model for how we build out telco networks in the future. - Why this is perfectly suited to Micromobility, and what possibilities it unlocks in terms of diagnostics, tracking and other value add services - How $1/year data costs are transformational, and how the costs for transponder and hotspot is going to rapidly decline. - They review the competition for creating connected Micromobility, comparing data costs, battery performance, coverage and the sort. If you’re interested in the Helium project, go and check out The Hotspot Podcast Full disclosure, Helium were kind enough to sponsor earlier podcasts and Oliver has got a few hotspots to learn more about their tech, but mainly, as you can hopefully hear, we just think they’re on to something and building out the best solution for micromobility connectivity that’s available in this space.