Editing Solana (section)

==== '''4. Helium — Be Your Own Telco Company''' ====
Helium can be best thought of as a decentralized infrastructure provider. Anyone can buy inexpensive hardware and become their own telco provider, servicing IoT, wifi and cellular 4G/5G coverage in the vicinity of their hotspot to other users and earn crypto for doing so. This is a revolutionary idea because the telecommunications industry has traditionally been incredibly difficult to crack into. Many companies are government-operated and need to invest millions in telco infrastructure and navigate a labyrinth of regulations before being fit to service a country’s wireless communications needs. Helium began in 2018 as a decentralized IoT provider. A window of opportunity opened when the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened up and made available an unlicensed block of spectrum (3.55 GHz to 3.7 GHz) to ordinary folks to use. CEO Amir Haleem jumped on the opportunity to expand their scope from IoT into more mainstream wireless communications, like wifi and 4G/5G cellular. In 2022, Helium migrated from their own blockchain onto Solana in order to scale for tomorrow. To participate, users purchase and set up a Helium Miner which will earn a passive income of HNT tokens. Helium is ultimately about people-powered networks. We might just be witnessing the beginning of a new wireless revolution.