World Mobile, a Cardano project that is connecting the unconnected
World mobile is a Cardano-based company that aims to use blockchain and a sharing economy model to connect the unconnected. The project is currently running a pilot program in Zanzibar. Steps are currently in place to expand into Kenya, Tanzania, and the rest of Africa.
Outside Africa, World Mobile wants to bring connectivity to rural USA.
World Mobile Mission & goals
Currently, over half of humanity has no access to an internet connection. The primary reason why they are unconnected is that traditional telecom operators cannot feasibly cover them using traditional approaches. Providing the necessary infrastructure is usually very capital intensive. Where the potential demand, economics and locale doesn't justify such investments, people are left unconnected.
By providing opportunities for digital inclusion to these people, World Mobile aims to help them:
- Stay up to speed with regional and global news
- Access banking opportunities i.e via mobile banking, crypto
- Communicate easily with friends and family regardless of their geographical barriers/separation
- Access online educational avenues
- Access online business/commerce opportunities
- Provider its users with an online identity
Note: World Mobile does not intend to disrupt existing telecom markets. Instead, it intends to partner with existing industry players and governments to achieve its objectives. Therefore, the project is cooperating with entities to license it to tap into the unused frequency spectrum. This way, the project will fill in the gaps left by traditional providers while avoiding direct competition at the frequency and market target levels.
World Mobile is a regulated body and aims to fit into the legal framework of the jurisdictions where it operates.
Infrastructure
World mobile's architecture consists of Earth Nodes, Air Nodes, & Aether Nodes.
Earth Nodes process transactions and keep the World Mobile network safe. They do so by providing the following modules:
Decentralized identity
This layer will provide an identity layer for network participants. Maybe via something like Cardano's Atala Prism.
Blockchain
This module will be the ledger component that will track World Mobile's users' transactions.
Telecommunications (telecom)
Air Nodes act as access points, which broadcast spectrum to clients. An air node could be a WiFi access point, an aerostat or a cell tower. These nodes will be owned by private entities, who may directly or indirectly maintain them. In which case, they'll be air node operators.
World Mobile Tokenomics
World Mobile utility token is WMT, which has a maximum token supply of 2 billion tokens. So far, roughly 15% of this supply is in circulation. The rest of it will be released into the market in the course of the next 2 decades. Based on World Mobile Token Scan, here are the current stats for the WMT token
| Metric | Stat | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Total Supply | 2 billion WMT | 100% |
| Circulating Supply | 305,268,914 WMT | 15.25% |
| Staked Supply | 200,937,984 | 10.04 % |
| Wallets holding WMT | ~20,000 | - |
| Wallets staking WMT | 9,557 | - |
| WMT price in ADA | 0.4595 ADA | - |
| WMT price in USD | $0.22 | - |
During the first year of WMT mint, the WMT's emission rate was set at 11.41%, a number that would keep decreasing over the years. The project targets to distribute 29% of these emissions among its EarthNode operators & stakers.
Going by World Mobile's token paper, the allocation for WMT is as follows:
| Distribution | WMT tokens | % WMT | Lock-up | Linear Unlock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Node operators & stakers | 580,000,000 | 29% | 0 | 0 |
| World Mobile Operation fund | 360,000,000 | 18% | 6 months | 6 years |
| Co-Founders | 355,000,000 | 17.75% | 18 months | 2 years |
| Public Sale | 200,000,000 | 10% | 0 | 0 |
| Partnerships | 157,000,000 | 7.85% | N/A | N/A |
| Advisors | 118,000,000 | 5.9% | 1 year | 1 year |
| Private Sale | 50,000,000 | 2.5% | 9 months | 0 |
| Incentive rewards | 60,000,000 | 3% | 0 | 0 |
| Early Staking incentive rewards | 50,000,000 | 2.5% | 0 | 0 |
| WM Community fund | 40,000,000 | 2% | 2 years | 4 years |
| Team | 30,000,000 | 1.5% | 1 year | 2 years |
Why World Mobile started its program in Africa
Africa is one of the least connected continents. However, it's the youngest continent by demographic i.e most of its population is below the age of 19. These young people need to be connected to the wider internet more than ever, now that the world has entered a digital information age. Commerce, banking, education, social interactions, and even governance initiatives will in future be built on the back of connectivity.
It's for this reason that World Mobile started its program in Zanzibar, then mainland Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi and to the rest of Africa. The need (demand) for digital inclusion is higher in these places.
See how World Mobile is helping the youth in Zanzibar transform their lives and their society.
World Mobile partnerships
Input Output Global (IOG)
IOG aims to bank the unbanked and transform how traditional financial markets work. Ultimately, they want to make it easier for individuals to maximise their financial freedoms and acess to investment opportunities. To achieve this goal, however, they need basic connectivity infrastructure to be in place.
It's no wonder, Charles Hoskinson, founder and CEO of IOG and Micky Watkins, founder of World Mobile brought their two companies into a partnership.
IOG will provide the blockchain technology upon which World Mobile will build on their sharing economy. World Mobile on the other hand, will help set up the telecom infrastructure that will enable IOG and Cardano reach more people, for maximum impact.
Fullham
Boston Protocol
Genius Yields
Chainlink
Cardstarter
World Mobile connecting and lighting up Zanzibar
First published on Sep 20, 2022
Cardano