How Wayru uses the blockchain to bring people together

At least 37% of the world’s population currently lacks adequate connection quality and network coverage, most of which are in developing countries.

That is about to change. Wayru, a Florida-based company that believes in the internet as a human right, is at the forefront of technological advances that could provide a decentralized solution to the problem of poor internet coverage.

The company started as an idea to help people in less developed countries connect, but will grow as the demand for internet will grow.

Wayru intends to make the internet accessible to all via a new decentralized network of Hotspots and Genesis hardware devices that will provide internet to millions in undeveloped regions and reward those who choose to support the network.

“Only a few large telecommunications companies manage most of the sector worldwide. It is time to give the power of connectivity and access to information back to the people. We believe that the ownership of Internet infrastructure should be in the hands of as many people as possible .” Wayru founder and CEO Charvel Chedraui said in a comment.

Its primary mission is to decentralize internet access to the global population by scaling up its services worldwide. The company aims to achieve 1,000 fixed broadband clients and 10,000 WiFi users by 2022, with even bigger plans.

Industry leaders such as Borderless and Algorand have already thrown their weight behind Wayru’s project, which has now developed a unique sharing economy model that has the potential to disrupt the telecommunications industry in underdeveloped nations and beyond.

Wayru’s network is designed to reduce both the time and cost of their broadband deployments, while increasing Internet speeds for WiFi On-the-Go service to meet the needs of homes and services. This is in an effort to compete with and seven times surpass the quality of services offered by internet giants.

Its more affordable model makes the internet cheaper and easier to access with simple setup, unlike what internet users have become accustomed to from current internet companies. Early adopters will have a free subscription for the first month.

Latin America first

Although Wayru intends to go global, it has chosen Latin America, where less than half of households have internet, as the first destination to launch its service. The poor internet access is due to the expensive services, poor coverage and unattractive, long-term contracts, resulting in only 56.1% of urban areas and a paltry 21.6% of the rural population having internet access.

Quito and Guayaquil, the two largest and most populated in Ecuador, will be the first beneficiaries of Wayru’s services as people are more likely to feel the impact of the network.

Powered by blockchain

The entire Wayru project is built on blockchain technology and has leveraged Algorand’s blockchain technology to tokenize Hotspots in groups of 1000 or more, called Hotspot Pools.

Anyone who wants to support the network can support the Hotspot Pools by purchasing “Pool Tokens”. The pool tokens are then automatically staked and the owner will start receiving WRU rewards as soon as the pool is active. As the number of hotspots increases in an area, the number of tokens in the pool will increase, making more tokens available for purchase.

Individuals and businesses can also purchase Genesis hardware devices; each device is a universal WiFi hub that can be used to share an internet connection and become part of a wider network.

Those who participate in the project will be rewarded with income generated from the users of Wayru’s service. By setting up a node, participants who share an existing connection or secure the network stake will be rewarded in $WRU for their participation and help strengthen internet access as a human right.

This community-driven decentralized model will not only facilitate an increased pace of cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption in commerce, but will pave the way for much more innovation in the future, leading to more adoption of new technologies.