Helium Improvement Proposals ( HIP ) 79, 82, and 84 have successfully passed with an overwhelming passing percentage of 82.3%, 99.9% and 96.9% for their respective proposals. All three of these HIP’s directly affect and pertain to the MOBILE network.
A proposition is deemed ‘Approved’ and accepted by the community if it achieves a super-majority of 66% of the Voting Power. This is not a new rule for the Helium Community and was first established in Phase 2 of Governance. The duration for which a proposal must be made available for voting is not predetermined. Generally, voting occurs within seven days.
Below is a brief summary of each HIP along with a link for the complete improvement proposal.
HIP 79 Summary
Essentially the passing of HIP 79 reduces the MOBILE reward bucket for Service Providers from 20% to 10% and increases the reward bucket for Mappers to 20% from 10%.
There are two ways that the Helium Network community can earn MOBILE tokens and participate in mapping PoC for the network.
- Discovery Mapping: an easy and passive way for Helium Mobile users to identify coverage gaps and earn rewards by simply going about their daily lives with their phone if you are a Helium Mobile subscriber.
Discovery Mapping is a feature offered exclusively to Helium Mobile users, and helps identify locations where additional people-built coverage would be beneficial. Once a user opts in, Discovery Mapping quietly takes place in the background, intermittently capturing location data while users continue moving about their daily life.
Since Discovery Mapping is intended to optimize building coverage based on typical user behavior, there is no need to go out of your way to scope out new geography for mapping, and users will earn rewards for each 24 hour period where their location data can be intermittently collected.
Helium Mobile is committed to prioritizing user privacy. Discovery Mapping is exclusively opt-in, so your location is never shared without your explicit permission. This data is never sold to third parties.
- Verification Mapping: involves more interaction from the user and requires a dedicated mapping device, but provides opportunity for greater rewards.
Verification Mapping evaluates the strength and range of existing Helium 5G network coverage. For now, users who want to participate in Verification Mapping will need to keep an eye out for Helium Mobile Spot, a powerful piece of dedicated hardware that our team is currently working on. Verification Mapping validates that radios are providing quality coverage and helps ensure that positioning for existing radio deployments can be optimized.
When Spot finds an area with strong coverage, Helium 5G network providers are rewarded. Coverage can be obstructed or weakened by environmental factors like trees or walls, so ongoing Verification Mapping means that individual coverage providers can be alerted to check on their 5G radios, enabling them to get back to providing the best coverage possible.
With Spot, users report on radio signal signal strength within an area at a specific time and report this data to the network along with timestamp and GPS location information. For this type of mapping, users will be encouraged to seek out and verify areas where coverage already exists.
Later in the year, Verification Mapping is planned to be added to the Helium Mobile app.
HIP 82 Summary
HIP 82 is rather straight forward and adds Helium Mobile as a service provider to the MOBILE network. The main goal is to bring usage to the network and get the ball rolling for other Service Providers to join. The HIP describes integration with Helium Mobile Network, anti-gaming mechanism, and overall impact on the Network.
HIP 84 Summary
To date, the push has been for growth of Mobile Hotspot numbers only and there has been very little guidance given for effective mobile hotspot placement in a way that benefits the MOBILE network most effectively in terms of placement for optimal coverage.
Service Providers will be able to incentivized to build new coverage in locations where prospective users of the MOBILE Network exist, increasing the number of new customers and ultimately more traffic on the MOBILE network.
Mobile Hotspot Owners will have the ability to earn extra MOBILE rewards by providing coverage with 5G Radios in the boosted hexes. Those with functional equipment in a boosted hex will automatically receive additional MOBILE rewards.
