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3air is a blockchain-based startup seeking to solve Africa’s persistent internet access problems.
The African continent has been struggling with the digital divide for decades. Most individuals in Africa rely on mobile internet providers for internet access. These connections are often limited in bandwidth, spotty and expensive.
3air aims to solve these issues and provide better internet solutions by leveraging a unique combination of innovative wireless technology and a blockchain platform. Its users will access the internet on high-speed broadband internet connections and use digital services, manage their identities, and even establish credit lines. The company also plans to provide innovative services like broadband sharing, data privacy and tokenization, which would reward users with more than just better internet access.
3air in a Nutshell
According to recent statistics, Africa faces overwhelming hurdles on its path to modernization due to unreliable internet services.
3air is looking to enhance broadband access for everyone through its proprietary wireless internet technology, achieved by its partnership with K3 Telecom. The Swiss Telecom provider has an already established customer base of several thousand users in Sierra Leone that will kickstart the platform usage at launch.
By using wireless technology, 3air bypasses the lack of cable infrastructure in African countries. The technology connects its base stations to the fibre networks that are set up around the continent and at major connectivity locations. It then broadcasts its signal to the end users. One base station can support up to 15,000 users within a 50km radius, supplying broadband Internet access at speeds up to 1 Gigabyte per second.
According to the company, the base stations will occupy strategic locations around the city. The trans-receivers will be used to transmit a better internet connection to homes and businesses in the region. This process should make internet access more efficient, cost-effective and reliable to support the local economy.
Cardano-Powered Decentralization
In addition to providing Internet access, 3air is looking to empower its users to transact and conduct business online. Cardano’s Atala PRISM solution will be used to create and manage verifiable digital identities for platform participants. With their digital identities, 3air users can authenticate themselves with other third-party services and store verifiable personal information on the blockchain. Together with their digital IDs, users may be able to establish credit scores to prove good credit in a request for a bank loan, for instance.
In areas where a majority of the population doesn’t own a bank account, the implications of providing access to digital services has the potential to transform local economies. Platform participants will have the opportunity to work, learn and bank online, independently of the current lack of infrastructure in the region.
3air leverages the Cardano blockchain to develop its blockchain platform and connect its internet users. 3air token is a Cardano native token, which the company uses to power its platform. Some of the token utilities include bankless payments for monthly subscriptions, staking, insurance provision, token lockups for hardware maintenance, agents, rewards and referrals systems and IoT. Its upcoming 3air chain will provide telecoms with privacy-enabled, permissionless data management solutions and potentially bandwidth tokenization. The company may also do regular token buybacks.
On its way to becoming a decentralized platform, 3air is looking to equip its users with even more capabilities. For one, 3air token holders will have control over 3air community pool funds. They will be able to allocate the funds to local projects or initiate token burns. With time, 3air seeks to decentralize further to a point where the development and direction of the platform is guided by the community.
Bandwidth sharing can result in massive reach of internet connectivity at reduced costs. Additional advantages are cheaper infrastructure, optimized bandwidth usage, and sharing data.
3air sustainable bandwidth sharing model will provide shared and free internet access points around the globe and enable roaming capabilities. Its first installations will be in restaurants, shopping malls, and populated areas that can benefit from 3air the most.
3air Connectivity through Partnerships
3airs strategic partnerships aid future developments. K3, in collaboration with 3air, has successfully completed a “Cable in the air” pilot in Sierra Leone. The program was implemented in the harshest weather and market conditions to uncover potential challenges and test its technological capabilities.
Additionally, 3air has secured vital partnerships with CV Labs global, iceaddis, and IT TIM. These partnerships support the company’s business development efforts in international and regional markets, as well as the technological development of the blockchain platform.
According to a recent World Bank report, expanding broadband access in low-income countries could increase the GDP by approximately 6%. In Nigeria alone, there is roughly $60 billion in untapped yearly revenue. However, according to World Bank estimates, providing Africa with traditional connectivity options would cost more than $100 billion and take more than ten years.
3air aims to accomplish this feat within a matter of months, not years. The company seeks to steer Africa’s internet access solutions onto the modern path of decentralization. Instead of using slow and costly traditional connectivity infrastructure, the company aims to provide low-cost and high-quality internet at faster speeds.
Since its launch, 3air has benefitted from increasing media coverage and a fast growing community across several social media and messaging platforms. Several influencers and news outlets have featured the company and are closely following developments of its platform and token. The project is rapidly developing into one of tomorrow’s most promising solutions to internet connectivity in Africa.